Medicaid has increasingly been a concern for states battling budget woes and NASBO Executive Director, Scott Pattison, articulated the mounting anxieties this has generated at the 2012 NASCIO Midyear Conference. One of his slides depicted how Medicaid has overwhelmingly drove general fund spending growth. Changes in general fund spending between FY2011 and FY2012 for Medicaid has been projected to be $19.4 billion dollars with the second closest category being K-12 with an increase of a $1.3 billion.
As a result of new mandates set forth by Affordable Care Act of 2010, HITECH Act, MITA 3.0, and evolving technologies like cloud computing, NASCIOs Health Care Working Group has released a brief highlighting the advantages of an enterprise approach to Medicaid IT and the stakeholder benefits to adhering to the CMS MITA guidance. Below you will find a summary and link to the brief “A Golden Opportunity for Medicaid IT Transformation.” I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to thee Health Care Working Group for lending their time and expertise to guide this briefs development.
Summary:
This is an unprecedented time for health IT in state agencies. Each stakeholder that comprises the health care system is trying to achieve lower costs, better health outcomes, and build trust within the numerous systems that relay a growing amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Personal Health Information (PHI). Currently, states have a golden opportunity for Medicaid IT transformation because of enhanced funding opportunities set forth by CMS. Being mindful of maximizing the value of tax-payer dollars, states should consider how an enterprise approach to Medicaid IT can embrace the principals of being strong stewards of fiscal sustainability and break down existing silos.
In response to the CMS release of Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) 3.0, the NASCIO Health Care Working Group has formulated guidance to states as they navigate Medicaid IT transformation. NASCIO continues to be an advocate for enterprise solutions and view the MITA framework as a way state CIOs can decouple legacy systems and increase sharing of information across agency silos in state government. State CIOs grasp the importance of modernizing the Medicaid enterprise in a way that is flexible, interoperable, and takes into consideration emerging technologies like cloud computing. In addition to emphasizing conformity to the MITA vision, the report calls attention to emerging security threats in the states and the resources available for state planning. To view a copy of the brief “A Golden Opportunity for Medicaid IT Transformation: State CIOs and the MITA Framework” please visit www.nascio.org/publications.