Microsoft Announces Alliance to Accelerate Consumer-Centered Delivery of Health and Human Services
Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under Microsoft
WASHINGTON, June 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Today at the Government
Health IT Conference & Exhibition an alliance of partners unveiled its work
on a comprehensive, multivendor connected health and human services (HHS)
technology architecture that is connecting disparate state and
jurisdictional human services systems to give providers one comprehensive
view into citizen/customer needs. The group supports today’s release of
version 2.0 of the Microsoft Connected Health and Human Services Framework,
which presents a flexible, individual and family-centered approach for
addressing the challenges that face HHS agencies, departments and programs
as they respond to complex social needs and problems and deliver services
to individuals and families in need.
Launch partners include ACS, Atlanta; Avanade, Seattle; CGI, Fairfax,
Va.; EDS, Plano, Texas; ESRI, Redlands, Calif.; Harmony Information
Systems, Reston, Va.; IDV Solutions, Lansing, Mich.; MidTech Partners,
Centennial, Colo.; Netsmart Technologies, Great River, N.Y.; Nets To
Ladders, Austin, Texas; NWN Corp., Waltham, Mass.; Plexis Healthcare
Systems, Ashland, Ore.; Saber Government Solutions (an EDS company),
Portland, Ore.; Unisys, Blue Bell, Pa.; and VisionWare Ltd., Glasgow,
Scotland.
“The extensive engagement of current and future partners in this
framework will allow all of our state customers to provide a holistic
approach to serving the citizens with whom they are engaging,” said Bill
O’Leary, executive director of HHS for the U.S. Public Sector at Microsoft
Corp. “This group of partners is coming together to put a stake in the
ground around connecting information technology and cross-agency processes
so citizens are the beneficiaries of top-notch service.”
Consumer-Centered HHS
Historically, HHS integration efforts have run into roadblocks, often
requiring dramatic restructuring of organizations, ripping out and
replacing large investments in technology systems, and transferring data
ownership from host agencies. Many HHS agencies, departments and programs
are disconnected, both in terms of information technology and internal
processes. Multiple legacy systems that support services to the same
individuals or families have often been built without reference to each
other. Individuals and families, consequently, are forced to traverse
programs from different entry points, providing largely the same personal
information to receive components of services that address only some of
their needs.
In response to these challenges, Microsoft, in working with industry
partners and numerous HHS state and federal agencies, noticed the need for
a connected HHS framework that links people, information, systems and
devices to help expand access to care, improve quality of services and
outcomes, and help protect the safety and well-being of clients and the
community.
Enabling consumer-centered scenarios across government empowers
caseworkers to have a complete case history on the individuals they are
servicing. The Connected HHS Framework provides support for a systematic
and leveraged road map approach to program enhancements so caseworkers can
more rapidly gain insight to the multiprogram interactions that are common
to the clients they serve — not only in HHS, but across other agencies as
well including justice, public safety and education, for example. The
framework fosters an industry-standards-based shared-services model that
facilitates efficient and effective reuse of business and technical
functions common across the numerous stand-alone programs representative of
state HHS agencies.
Through the new alliance, the group will combine industry-leading
applications, information infrastructure and delivery expertise to
accelerate the bridging of legacy program silos to better serve state and
municipality constituencies across the country. The framework does this by
detailing the core infrastructure requirements based on the Windows family
of servers, tools and applications for integration, security,
collaboration, reporting and analysis.
“While our Connected HHS Alliance partners are committed to the
consumer-centered vision and supporting framework of delivering
best-in-class shared services and commercial off-the-shelf-based solutions,
they are also committed to working with each other as they produce new and
consume existing key services required for integrated care,” said Kevin
Dolan, director of HHS for the U.S. Public Sector Alliance at Microsoft.
“We welcome additional partners to join the Connected HHS Alliance to
further accelerate this initiative.”
Launch members and contribution samplings include the following:
— ACS Government Healthcare Solutions has been meeting the challenges of
government healthcare programs for more than 30 years. ACS’
revolutionary Informed Health suite of health information exchange and
e-health solutions aligns with the Connected HHS Framework and uses
Microsoft technology and products. The Patient Data Hub accumulates
healthcare data about an individual or population. Real-time
algorithms analyze the shared data set and provide evidence-based
clinical decision support to each stakeholder — physician,
pharmacist, patient, employer and payer — improving healthcare and
saving money. ACS has experience implementing the Connected HHS
Framework in Missouri.
— Avanade. As an example of a security-enhanced shared service
conforming to the Connected HHS Framework, Avanade has co-developed an
end-user provisioning and single sign-on system. The security
mechanism grants access to various systems, and authorizes users to
access applications via role-based security using a variety of
integrated approaches, including Active Directory Federated Services
(ADFS). This framework is being expanded to allow security-enhanced
and effective use of applications hosted within an environment by
consolidating the provisioning and allowing for management of the user
life cycle. This foundation, which meets HIPAA, ADA, and other federal
privacy and accessibility guidelines, also provides audit capabilities
and enables a user to sign on once, which consequently provides user
access to other approved systems without additional sign-on screens.
This security solution was first implemented in conjunction with EDS
in Kentucky with additional deployments in Alabama and Florida.
— CGI uses proven approaches and experience gained working with more
than 40 state and local HHS agencies to deliver solutions for child
welfare, integrated eligibility and enterprise case management.
govMosiac, a comprehensive, government-specific reference model,
incorporates domain expertise tailored to HHS agencies. CGI’s
infoSACWIS solution uses Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to
deliver federal compliance and performance metrics for child welfare
in a user-friendly and timely manner. With CGI Mobile Worker, case
workers can capture information in the field, increasing data quality.
CGI also offers CAS version 5.0, a .NET-based fraud detection and case
management solution.
— EDS’ interChange Claims & Administrative Platform solution for
Medicaid Management Information Systems embraces the core technologies
and service-oriented architecture (SOA) that align with Connected HHS
Framework and Medicaid Information Technology Architecture 2.0
guidelines. The EDS “360-Degree Healthcare Continuum” places the
citizen at the center of program services to enable more complete,
effective and efficient service delivery for HHS. Within the EDS
model, governments connect previously siloed services and solutions to
optimize the distribution of knowledge, empower consumers, improve
performance and streamline business processes.
— ESRI, a global provider of geographic information systems (GIS)
software, provides enterprise-level geographic data management,
spatial analytics and location-aware information presentation
solutions to thousands of HHS organizations. ESRI solutions help
agencies improve the accuracy and timeliness of geographically
relevant information used to inform the public, make policy decisions,
evaluate services and initiate emergency response. ESRI deployments
include West Nile virus surveillance in Pennsylvania, Advanced
Emergency GIS (AEGIS) at Loma Linda University Medical Center, a
vaccination stockpile in Nebraska, and a public health data and
emergency management information system in South Carolina.
— Harmony Information Systems is a provider of Web-based information
management solutions for government and private human services
organizations. Harmony has long been aligned with Microsoft’s
Connected HHS Framework and vision. Harmony’s enterprise approach
automates and simplifies case management and financial management
processes and creates a centralized, comprehensive client view,
resulting in improved client outcomes, more efficient service
delivery, and compliance with key funding guidelines and requirements.
Harmony solutions have been implemented in Alabama, Virginia and
Washington, D.C.
— IDV Solutions is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that enables
organizations to make their data more actionable using best-in-class
data visualization and business intelligence technologies. The IDV
Visual Fusion Suite helps organizations engage with enterprise data in
an interactive, easy-to-use, Web-based environment that makes
information more accessible, understandable and contextual. Visual
Fusion has been deployed in numerous enterprise and government
organizations including Thomson Reuters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the states of Alabama and
Michigan. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence uses IDV
software to report worldwide avian flu alerts and watches.
— MidTech Partners is a technology integration services company with a
special focus on business process integration, portal development and
business intelligence. As a leading partner experienced with Microsoft
BizTalk Server, MidTech provides business process integration
solutions for the Connected HHS Framework. Examples include common
client-indexing teaming (with fellow Connected HHS Alliance partner
VisionWare) in Alaska and numerous health information exchange
projects that require deep integration with disconnected systems.
— Netsmart Technologies. Netsmart provides enterprise software solutions
to more than 18,000 health and human services organizations, including
300,000 care providers and 38 state systems. Netsmart customers
include public health departments, mental health and substance abuse
clinics, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health
practices, vital records offices and managed-care organizations.
Netsmart’s Connected Care initiative allows behavioral and public
healthcare providers to share clinical data electronically and provide
that clinical data to the consumer through a Web-based portal on
Microsoft .NET, helping them use technology as the catalyst to provide
their consumers and patients with high-quality, consumer-directed
care. Netsmart is planning to use the framework model to enhance its
patient portal via an interface to HealthVault, Microsoft’s consumer
health records platform. In addition, a sampling of key Netsmart Vital
Records management deployments on Microsoft SQL Server include New
Jersey, Maryland, South Dakota, Nevada, Illinois, Florida, the Virgin
Islands, Nebraska, Ohio and Kentucky.
— Nets to Ladders’ customer relationship management (CRM)-based hosted
platform, Benefits Enrollment Network, streamlines access to public
benefit programs, including food stamps and Medicaid, by empowering
community-based organizations to screen and submit applications from
their constituents to state agencies much more quickly and accurately.
The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta found that integrating benefits
into the screening tool increases collaboration among community
organizations and state agencies, which also benefit from the tracking
and accountability. Nets to Ladders’ solution embraces the core
infrastructure of the Connected HHS Framework and is based on
Microsoft’s connection-oriented transport service platform for
Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
— NWN Corp. helps government HHS organizations connect the dots. Every
state and local government faces the same issue: how to weld a
fragmented, often aging tangle of human service systems and processes
into a simple, coherent set of services that meet constituents’ needs.
Microsoft Connected HHS Framework makes this aspiration both
achievable and affordable for governments everywhere. NWN relies on
its extensive experience in HHS to help clients create a realistic
road map for achieving connected HHS. NWN solutions are deployed in,
Maryland, Alabama and Washington, D.C.
— Plexis Healthcare Systems’ solution family for benefits administration
provides a highly configurable, rules-based, widely scalable and
modular approach. The solution family, which leverages an SOA
supported by Microsoft SQL Server and .NET, is a true
connection-oriented transport service product within the Medicaid
Information Technology Architecture (MITA) 2.0 guidelines. Plexis
Healthcare Systems provides software solutions to more than 80
commercial healthcare plans, and supports government agencies such as
the Financial Service Center at the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs in Austin, Texas.
— Saber Government Solutions, an EDS company, has a rich history of
collaborating with Microsoft to deliver real solutions for customers.
Saber believes that Microsoft’s technology, products and methods
provide a solid foundation to create and extend innovative solutions
to government customers. As a premier provider of government
technology solutions, Saber’s leadership in delivering health and
human services solutions has been enhanced by the company’s
relationship with Microsoft. Specifically, Saber is a leader in
providing Child Care and Child Support Enforcement solutions, and is
using the Connected HHS Framework principles in developing current and
future product offerings within these verticals. As a result, a number
of states are leveraging Saber and Microsoft technology to build
mission-critical solutions.
— Unisys has a mission to help state governments create a connected
environment across all their HHS organizations to achieve high-quality
healthcare and reduced administrative costs. This mission aligns
closely with the Connected HHS Alliance. Unisys Health PAS, a
Medicaid-management information system designed for Medicaid and
state-run healthcare programs, provides a feature-rich, flexible,
scalable enterprise solution with best-of-breed commercial
off-the-shelf software integrated via a loosely coupled SOA. Internal
and external use of Web services supports Microsoft’s connected HHS
environment vision. Health PAS is deployed in West Virginia and is
being implemented in Idaho and Maine.
— VisionWare Ltd. As one of the shared service offerings within the
Connected Health and Human Services Framework VisionWare’s MultiVue
CDI/MDM Hub improves operational efficiencies and reduces costs by
providing accurate, up-to-date client/patient information across
agencies and organizations through enabling unique identification to
help build the 360-degree views of the citizen being served. MultiVue
has been implemented in Alaska, Wyoming and Alabama.
The Connected HHS Framework is informed by existing enterprise
architecture concepts and principles documented by the Enterprise
Architecture Committee of the National Association of State Chief
Information Officers and the Federal Enterprise Architecture project
sponsored by the federal Office of Management and Budget. Both initiatives
define complementary business and technical dimensions. They also focus on
comprehensive specifications of enterprise business processes and
performance objectives, and on enterprise technical guidance that
emphasizes standards, reuse of common components and an overall
architecture that can be implemented in whole or in parts.
More information and access to Connected HHS Framework version 2.0 and
the alliance is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/health/hhs.mspx.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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