Medicaid has become a public service staple since launching in 1965. For tens of millions of Americans, this program ensures that they can afford health care despite their limited income and resources.
Scores of governments, however, struggle to deliver Medicaid benefits to their citizens. Whether federal, state or local, these agencies use technology that can’t fully support their Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) needs. MMIS networks are digital platforms for streamlining Medicaid administration. Historically, older MMIS systems are inflexible, respond to changes slowly and ultimately raise long-term costs. In contrast, modernizing IT such as MMIS networks can help agencies become more versatile while helping them save money on operating expenses.
One state’s recent MMIS modernization provides its peers nationwide with a clear map to improving their Medicaid IT. Washington’s efforts to modernize the state’s Medicaid system and deliver citizens better, more timely services offer agencies at every level an example of how to modernize and upgrade their MMIS networks.
In 2018, Washington’s Health Care Authority (HCA) became America’s first agency to transition all its production MMIS applications and infrastructure into a public cloud. The migration’s results demonstrate how cloud computing can transform MMIS processes and improve the delivery of Medicaid benefits.
To understand why modernizing MMIS systems with cloud is important, GovLoop partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Client Network Services, Inc. (CNSI). AWS is an on-demand cloud platform provider, while CNSI is a health care IT solutions provider. HCA revitalized Washington’s Medicaid services by transferring its MMIS network to a CNSI platform based in AWS’s public cloud. The following pages discuss the current challenges agencies face with their MMIS networks and share best practices for delivering Medicaid services more efficiently with cloud.
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