This month, CompTIA’s Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG) participated and held its monthly meeting at the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC) in Baltimore. Traditionally, HSITAG has been focused on Human Services programs such as social services, child care, child support, and temporary assistance for needy families (TANF). Over the past couple of years, HSITAG has seen many parallels between the human services market and the health market. For instance, modular procurements and systems are driving towards an interoperable system that includes health and human services components. This type of modular system was the focus of the MESC conference, and HSITAG has waded into the market through a survey on modular systems as they apply to Medicaid Managed Information Systems (MMIS) as they are upgraded across the United States.
HSITAG hosted two states that are in the midst of such upgrades and learned from leadership about how they have been successful to date and lessons they have learned. Ruth Vineyeard, Nebraska’s Deputy Director of Medicaid, discussed the 17 transformational IT projects happening in the state’s HHS space. The state is making the monumental jump from legacy systems to a modular approach of replacement and doing so with strong governance, collaboration, and culture shift. Huge Hale, CIO of the Tennessee Health Care Finance Administration, outlined the parts of a home grown modular system that is going through a transition that will include an eligibility module within the next few years.
Tennessee and Kansas are making the shift from thinking of health and human services as separate entities and incorporating both programs into an integrated solution for their citizens. HSITAG will continue to do the same and integrate more health into a traditional human services council. As the market converges, so does HSITAG’s focus.
Jennifer Saha is the National Director, Public Sector Councils at CompTIA
