If Massachusetts' beleaguered health insurance exchange is going to be saved, the governor thinks a Blue Cross executive and a UnitedHealth tech company are the ones who can do it.
As part of a plan for a "clear path forward to developing a fully functioning website," Governor Deval Patrick named Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts chief strategy officer Sarah Iselin to the temporary position of special assistant for project delivery and secured a partnership with UnitedHealth Group's Optum company.
"Our residents deserve a functional, easy-to-use system to access the healthcare they need and deserve," Patrick said in a media statement.
Iselin was a former commissioner of the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy overseeing the 2006 reform policy and later president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation before joining the Blue company.
Patrick described Iselin as "a lifelong advocate for access to healthcare for all of our residents, and an effective manager." Though Iselin will be the single point of contact between the state and contractors, Massachusetts Health Connector executive director Jean Yang is remaining on board. A former Tufts Health Plan director and McKinsey consultant, Yang has led the exchange since January 2013, as it was adopting a number of modifications to comply with the Affordable Care Act that may have ended up contributing to its current technical woes.
Similar to how the federal government has used the company, Patrick is bringing in UnitedHealth Group's Optum to coordinate and troubleshoot technical issues with lead contractor CGI. The Patrick administration and Connector leaders have pinned much of the blame on CGI and halted payments to the company in December (as did Vermont). Patrick also moved the responsibilities for the contract from the UMass Medical School to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Optum will be advising the state on short- and long-term steps to address "website issues and necessary workarounds," in addition to coordinating work to eliminate the backlog applicants.
"Optum has a proven track record of fixing these kind of problems and will take immediate actions to address the website issues and enhance our capacities to perform the necessary workarounds while we repair the website," Patrick said.
How much Optum and Iselin will be paid was not divulged, but Patrick said he has "authorized Optum to bring as much operational support as necessary" to "ensure that the people who have applied for coverage through the website and those that will apply in the months ahead are able to navigate from old policies to new ones."
He's also sending a team to Washington D.C. to meet with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to "make sure the Commonwealth has the flexibility necessary to complete this transition."
Meanwhile, Massachusetts residents unable to enroll in new health plans are being offered temporary coverage through Medicaid.