The replacement of a failed computer system that processes the state’s Medicaid claims is scheduled to be phased in over the next two years. The switch will cost some state employees their jobs, but correct a nagging problem that’s persisted since the day the system was plugged in.
When the in-house system was implemented in January of 2005, Medicaid providers couldn’t be paid and at the height of the problem, there were hundreds of thousands of bills mired in the computer system.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey at one point estimated that up to 100 state positions would be cut with the switch, though many of them were expected to find employment with the outside vendor, Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Penn.
Harvey now says the number of state positions cut between now and implementation might be fewer than 100. Her department is working with Unisys toward a concrete figure.
Gov. John Baldacci’s biennial budget calls for the implementation of the system, which the Dept. of Health and Human Services and Unisys Corp. have been working on for several months.
The switch-over requires the reinstatement of about 30 employees whose jobs were previously slated to be cut by June 30. Those employees are funded in the biennium, according to Baldacci’s budget, but are offset by nine layoffs in DHHS in fiscal year 2010 and 64 layoffs in 2011, according to a summary provided by the Dept. of Administrative and Financial Services.
Overall, said Harvey, staffing in the Office of Medicaid Services, which is where the claims are processed, will have dropped from 402 employees in 2007, to 185 in 2011. Those numbers include both state employees and contractors associated with Medicaid billing.
Design and implementation of the system, which is underway, is a two-year process with a total cost of about $35.5 million, followed by a five-year contract with Unisys that’s worth $144 million.
Ninety percent of those costs are paid with federal dollars, leaving the state holding about $18 million of the total cost.
Harvey said the details of how the new system will affect staffing in her department are still being worked out, with a focus on determining how many people Unisys will bring in, and what their staffing needs are afterwards.
“One of the things we had in the request for proposals when we bid this contract, was that we wanted the vendor to give preference to current state employees,” Harvey said. “But they are not guaranteed employment.”
Harvey said a transition team from Unisys has been working alongside state employees and using that opportunity for recruitment and “getting to know one another.”
Aside from doing away with a faulty in-house computer system, the new contract will make the Office of Medicaid Services, which supports about 267,000 direct recipients in Maine plus another 35,000 who are administered through service providers, more nimble when it comes to making changes.
“When we make a decision to make changes, it won’t take months to put something into place, which is our current experience,” Harvey said. “They’ll run an efficient operation and give us the data we need to do reforms when we need to bring down our cost.”
Harvey said she anticipates that the switch-over won’t be without glitches, but that she’s hopeful nonetheless.
“My confidence rests on the many people who have been working on this,” she said. “We are testing and retesting the process along the entire way. A group meets every Tuesday night to measure the progress of this. That gives me confidence.”
Harvey said that holding down the cost of Medicaid – known in Maine as MaineCare – has been a focus for her department, even through the tough times caused by the faulty computer system.
“Despite all of this activity, we have not increased substantially the cost of Medicaid for the last three-and-a-half years,” she said.
(Statehouse News Service)