Sharing Modularity Trends at State Health IT Connect

Conduent Illuminates Key Modularity Trends at State Health IT Connect

At last month’s State Health IT Connect Conference in Baltimore, Health and Human Services (HHS) executives from across the nation met to collaborate on how best to overcome current challenges and determine their best path forward to modernize and meet ever-evolving Medicaid service demands.

State HHS officials are seeking solutions to update aging legacy technologies and processes. For many, the path forward requires a heightened focus on improving mission-critical processes and standardizing data. For other states, the path forward will require a strong integration partner to help implement and integrate modules across agency systems. Many states today still rely on traditional, custom-developed, large-scale Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) that are simply not flexible or scalable enough to keep pace with current demands.

Even many of the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications and modules that have been added in recent years still rely on legacy technologies that have grown too rigid to alter or easily integrate across multiple platforms and/or providers. Connecting disparate technologies that weren’t intended to operate with other systems remains a burdensome challenge.

Conduent Technology Solutions Leader, Vinay Koneru, described the key trends driving state government HHS efforts to modernize and embrace modular MMIS platforms in a session entitled, Driving Modularity and Interoperability with a Platform-based Approach to MMIS.

Before an audience of federal and state Medicaid directors, HHS executives and other providers, Koneru presented his insights on modular, platform-based MMIS procurement strategies, and state government challenges inherent in standardizing data, integration, guidelines, and workflow processes across multiple heterogeneous platforms. Conduent is a leading technology and HHS service provider, working every day to streamline enrollment processes, provide seamless access to benefits, and proactively serve the needs of state government constituents, partners and other stakeholders.

According to Koneru, states typically choose one of three paths to achieve modular MMIS interoperability, including:

• Using a single underlying technological platform -- then defining standards and processes and acquiring applications and services as needed over the lifecycle of the platform. Once a state determines which platform to use, that information provides industry suppliers with solid guidance for how to build and integrate modules that will run on the platform and integrate with other systems across state agencies.

• Establishing a set of data and process standards -- that must be adhered to for seamless integration and optimization across multiple platforms. In this scenario, state HHS officials provide guidelines for data and/or application programming interfaces (APIs) for example, and this guidance helps industry partners determine how best to implement modules that will meet the state’s predefined standards.

• Finding a partner to manage integration – this requires choosing the right partner to provide integration management. In this scenario, state HHS agencies manage daily government service operations, while the integration partner manages the service and maintains service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure performance levels are met.

By leveraging the power of technology, Conduent strives to elevate every constituent interaction and drive modern digital experiences that are more efficient, helpful and satisfying. Click here to learn more about how Conduent can help your state overcome current challenges to gain modern, streamlined MMIS operations.