State & Local Weekly News Wrap-Up

By Timothy Brett posted Sep 22,2011 10:37 AM

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MULTI-JURISDICTION

WellPoint, the nation’s largest health insurer, is setting up a private health insurance exchange to compete with those created and managed by governments under federal health care reform legislation. The exchange is a joint effort between WellPoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and Health Care Service Corp. The exchange will serve all national markets and create a defined contribution solution for employers. Under federal health care reform legislation, states are required to set up a health insurance exchange that allows employers and individuals understand and compare insurance coverage options through online marketplaces. States have until 2013 to set up their own exchange or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will establish one for them and administer it. Overall, health insurance exchanges have been controversial for both providers and states that are against federal health care reform. Private solutions like the one offered by WellPoint may become popular in states that are currently against government involvement in health care. WellPoint sets up private insurance exchange to compete with states

Do surveillance cameras prevent crime? Cities around the country have been installing camera systems in recent years, often funded by federal Homeland Security grants, and many have reported good results, but independent research on their effectiveness has been scarce, according to the Urban Institute. So the institute, which does economic and social policy research, studied the surveillance systems in three cities - Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, D.C. - and recently issued a report on how they affected crime rates. The verdict: The presence of cameras was effective in reducing crime for some, though not all, areas. The key isn’t in just having cameras, the report states, but in how they’re used - how many cameras are employed and where they’re set up, how well they’re monitored, and how well officials balance privacy concerns with utility. Do surveillance systems reduce crime?

WASHINGTON

Tyler Technologies and Microsoft have finished their first-ever deployment of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for the public sector. Tyler Technologies implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 with the city of Redmond, Washington to help the city improve its workflow and transactions processes. Redmond implemented the technology as part of its broader municipal strategic technology plan. The city hopes to get out in front of municipal demand for its services by implementing a technology infrastructure that will allow government to effectively manage the workflows of municipal employees and maintain expediency in transaction processing. Tyler Tech & Microsoft implement public sector ERP in Washington

CONTRACTING/ACQUISITION

The State of Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget has awarded a contract to Unisys to build and maintain a new child welfare services system to serve the needs of thousands of children and social workers in Michigan. Designed to meet new state and federal data quality and information-sharing requirements, the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System will provide an integrated database for use by Michigan Department of Human Services workers to track the cases of approximately 15,000 children involved in the state’s foster care and adoption services programs. The new contract will run three years, and the State of Michigan may extend it for two additional one-year periods at its discretion. This contract has a value of $30 million, and the State may order additional services that could bring the total potential value of the contract to $47 million. State of Michigan Taps Unisys to Build New Child Welfare Services System

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