2018 State HIT Connect Summit

The Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) role is critical to successful implementations of Medicaid IT systems.  It provides an independent and unbiased perspective on the progress of system development, integrity, and functionality to both the state and CMS. This session covers the duties of the IV&V contractor and what constitutes a high performing IV&V contractor in the E&E and MMIS systems context. Session discussion includes detailed explanation of the IV&V Progress Report, Milestone Review checklists, and CMS’ content expectations.
 

The MITA Governance Board (MGB) will announce the next Medicaid IT Architecture (MITA) release. The MITA framework enables technologies and processes to support the development of a more effective Medicaid IT enterprise. This session will provide attendees with an update on:
● The scope and benefits of the next MITA release
● The roles and responsibilities of the states in the submission of their State Self-Assessments
● Enhancements in the pipeline for future MITA releases 

States and Vendors continue to struggle with defining and implementing modular based solutions. Some states are taking a leadership role in helping to define what modularity could look like. In this engaging panel conversation, come learn from CMS, the state of West Virginia, the state of Massachusetts, and the vendor community about innovative solutions for how states can approach modularity. CMS will share their latest thinking regarding how pre-certification and the importance of reusability. West Virginia will share how they were able to deliver their MMIS solution on time and on budget and got certified in 8 months. In addition, PSTG will present findings from their recently released modularity survey.

In 2016 CMS announced a vision for accelerating the move toward modularity and reuse, and facilitate lower-risk, more cost- effective, and technically successful IT solutions for Medicaid IT, that involved Vendor submission of modules for “Precertification”. Precertification was envisioned as a separate, vendor-facing process with unique precertification criteria. Once precertified, that solution will be added by CMS to a list on Medicaid.gov that the states can leverage for purchasing decisions for their Medicaid Enterprise. CMS launched a Vendor Precertified Module Pilot in October 2017 that was designed to not only support acceleration toward modularity, reuse and innovation but to consider how MMIS certification could be streamlined with the use of precertified modules. This presentation provides an overview of the Pilot and will include discussions on vendor experience, the evaluation process, lessons learned, and future developments.

In this session, CMS, MITRE and State technical experts facilitate a discussion designed to help states develop more effective Medicaid IT systems that align with CMS’ modularity mandate.  We will discuss how to leverage the Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Toolkit (MEET) and Medicaid Enterprise Certification Toolkit (MECT). MEET v1.0 and MECTv 2.2, released in third quarter 2017, offer more flexibility with modular and agile development and accommodate various state approaches to system development lifecycles. The session will review the critical process steps for the toolkits as well as describe the various phases of MMIS certifications and E&E reviews and how to prepare for them.  States will also gain a broader understanding of the independent verification and validation (IV&V) role as an unbiased evaluator, intended to ensure the integrity of certification processes at the state level.

The MITA TAC has a 15 year track record of collaboration between states and vendors to define and build Proof of Concept modules for use in Medicaid MMIS systems. The MITA TAC is currently working with MITRE corporation (Project Poplin), CMS, the Leavitt partners lead MTA initiative, Stewards of Change, states and vendors to implement working implementations of Medicaid Modular solutions. This discussion will highlight how secure Application Program Interfaces (APIs) can be used to implement the reference architecture documented in project Poplin in a secure and interoperable manner and then be used as the basis for Human Services modules aligned with the A87 exception through the National Interoperability Collaborative (NIC). This discussion will present the issues that need to be addressed to meet the requirements of modularity as defined by CMS. For example interoperability and security. The presentation, although being technical in nature, will be presented in a manner that is understandable by Medicaid execs. The MITA TAC intends to have a booth to demonstrate the progress on the collaborative Proof of Concept (PoC) as well as serving as a place for individuals to do a technical “deep dive” into the topics discussed in the presentation.

Modular and interoperable Medicaid IT systems help to ensure that states address the changing needs of the beneficiaries, stay in compliance with regulations, and result in reducing program costs per beneficiary. The Poplin project is a Medicaid reference architecture being developed, under the MITA Governance Board and sponsored by CMS, by key states, vendors, and other stakeholders. Poplin defines a standard, extensible set of business processes, object definitions, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for State Medicaid Agencies. Poplin provides technical specifications to help ensure interoperability and reusability of modules and information for multi-organization, multi-vendor, and multi-technology state Medicaid systems. This presentation will discuss the goals, principles, and guiding practices for a nationwide Poplin architecture for Medicaid. Guiding practices include four components of service definition, reference implementations for key shared services, and service definitions for key Medicaid functional areas.

Procurement for modular solutions RFPS will need to engage multiple perspectives from state agencies before the RFPs are published! IT professionals may not understand the complexity of procurement processes in depth. Lawyers may not understand how IT systems are procured and managed. Procurement planning and understanding of potential risks and issues in depth should be part of the strategic assessment and planning for all modular considerations. The ability to compress schedules and reduce procurement risks will be a key consideration, and how to instill some agile principles within a traditionally NON-agile set of processes. We will explain how and why Shakespeare thought it would be useful to “First kill all the lawyers.” And why that won’t work today.

CMS is developing a prototype Open Source Provider Screening Module (PSM) as a proof of concept for advancing modular Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) architectures. Speakers will discuss how open source development supports the shift to modularity and its value to states, describe the PSM project, and share opportunities for ongoing involvement.  They will demonstrate the latest PSM and instruct attendees on how to obtain the latest code and documentation.  Additionally, there will be a discussion of the potential benefits states could achieve by implementing and integrating an open source module within their MMIS.