The Department of Health and Human Services is offering grants to ambitious states that can be the first to produce consumer-friendly technology for health care exchanges.
Representing new competitive insurance marketplaces, the exchanges are expected to help Americans and small businesses buy affordable private health insurance in 2014, thus, the need for a strong IT infrastructure. States that develop IT systems will receive funding, and these systems can used as models by all states as they establish exchanges.
In 2014, exchanges will help individuals and small employers find, choose, and enroll in competitively priced private health plans. While exchanges are not planned to start until 2014, design and implementation preparation has begun nationwide. In fact, states have asked for early funding assistance to develop the IT infrastructure, especially regarding eligibility and enrollment systems.
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States are being rewarded for developing leading and cost-effective consumer-based technologies and models for insurance eligibility and enrollment for exchanges. Each state, including award recipients, will be eligible to apply for future funding to support continuing exchange implementation.
"States are focused on implementing the health insurance exchanges because they know the exchanges will empower their citizens by forcing health insurers to compete," says Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. "Consumer-friendly information technology is the backbone of that effort, which is why we are creating an incentive for states that are willing and able to lead the way to do so."
By Feb. 15, 2011, two-year grants will be awarded to up to five states or state coalitions with ambitious but accessible proposals that can produce IT models and best practices benefitting each state.
"States are developing cutting-edge innovative systems to deliver cost-effective and consumer-friendly care to families and small businesses," says Joel Ario, director of OCIIO's Office of Health Insurance Exchanges. "By encouraging and rewarding states for their innovation, we can build and leverage models that can be adopted and tailored by other states and generate taxpayer savings across the board."
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