Mississippi Human Services Eligibility System Re-Design
This study was designed to be the basis for the Mississippi Department of Medicaid and DHS to craft a IAPD-U for the purpose of expanding the scope of the eligibility interface that provides shared data and access to both agencies in real time and allows for the capability to create a seamless “front door” for beneficiaries.
This Mississippi Department of Human Services project, involved and assessment of the feasibility of making DHS eligibility systems consistent and interoperable with the State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) and eligible for enhanced funding under the Affordable Care Act – CMS 90%/10% federal funding initiative based on Section C.3 of OMB A-87 cost allocation. The assessment looked at all DHS social service program systems to establish an interface with Medicaid eligibility systems in order to promote and enhance child health and well-being, and to establish business case for enhanced system integration funding.
The Stephen Group assessment estimated the financial benefit of reducing projected labor needs and of improved integrity in human services to total approximately $25-30 million annually. Moreover, hard data was provided that showed system improvements would save beneficiaries between 2-4 hours each year, as they would no longer have to go through multiple processes to enroll in the several programs. Thus, The Stephen Group analysis shows that financial benefits would outweigh the costs, which would include the cost of the new enrollees, plus the relatively small state share (10%) of the system redesign. The report also anticipated that the such a program would cover an additional 45,000 Medicaid or CHIP eligible individuals (mostly children) through the streamlined application procedure. The improved health outcomes for this newly enrolled population will also add to the long-term savings of this effort.