The U.S. Federal and State governments have been making fundamental changes in the way they purchase and manage technology. While transition to cheaper mobile devices will contribute to lower spending on equipments, shared services, consolidation and cloud computing will reduce total cost of operations, including spending on maintenance services. Deltek estimates that nearly every agency will experience a decline in spend and total federal IT spending could fall from $121 billion in 2012 to $113 billion by 2017.
To address these demands and challenges, Government agencies are looking beyond their entrenched IT service providers and seeking new vendors who can assist them to 'innovate with less'. Vendors who can drive this transformation will be the ones that best leverage their core competencies, deliver predictable and measureable client results and effectively utilize disruptive technologies such as cloud, mobility and business analytics.
Read the complete blog that discusses this changing landscape and new IT approaches to serving Public Sector clients @ infytalk
Enroll UX 2014 is an attempt by a public private partnership within the health insurance spectrum, to standardize and enable electronic enrollments. The project had Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (
Dr. Mark Smith, President and CEO of California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) mentioned last month- "We live in a digital society. Access to health coverage should be as straightforward as the other transactions people have become accustomed to, whether it's online banking or making travel arrangement"
Unfortunately, US healthcare is not there yet. Case in point - enrollment for health insurance - it was and partially remains, a paper based activity in many states. With additional 40 million+ applicants expected to enroll soon owing to the affordable care act, it needs to be transformed quickly.
With the CMS update on revised compliance date for ICD 10, State Medicaid departments get the much needed time to step up their ICD 10 compliance program and be ready by Oct 1, 2014. Broadly classified, each State may belong to one of the following categories based on their current state of remediation plan:
Very mention of the word 'Exchange' in the United States is associated with Health reform and the PPACA act, and why not? This is probably one of the most discussed topics today! The Exchange which is supposed to make insurance purchase simple for the majority of uninsured & underinsured population has courted a lot of controversy and issues around implementation costs, self-sufficiency & sustainability, political conflicts, regulatory uncertainty etc. While States & Payers address these issues, they should keep in mind the consumer driven nature of these Exchanges and should design an Exchange from Consumer's perspective, incorporating elements that empower them and facilitate insurance purchase.
Yes, consumers like online comparison, but buying health plans is more complex and invariably requires experts' assistance. Recent survey conducted in the State of Colorado revealed the importance of 'Navigators' in an Insurance Exchange. The study highlighted that people preferred a non-biased opinion/ suggestion/ guidance from the Navigators while choosing a health plan. And, in case they are eligible for State plans, they want Navigators to guide them to those relevant programs. These conclusions validate the importance of Navigators in building an effective exchange.
