We all probably know by now about the health insurance exchanges coming in to play by the year 2014 and of course prior to that time there’s a lot of data work and organization for setting them up. Microsoft announced a turn key solution working 
with Microsoft and Microsoft Partners to help get started. Not too long ago I wrote about the public CIOs getting over whelmed as many of them are deeper into Health IT costs and services than what they ever thought they would be. BD
Press Release:
WASHINGTON — Feb. 8, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer new turnkey technology solutions tailored to help states quickly roll out their statewide health insurance exchanges by 2014. These solutions are part of Microsoft’s broader set of offerings for health and human services, designed to assist states in reducing the cost of service delivery, while improving quality and efficiency. Solutions include health information exchanges, enrollment and eligibility, and health-enabled business intelligence/analytics and case coordination.
Microsoft’s State Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) solutions include several core Microsoft and partner technologies and allow state and government agencies to choose a single interoperable framework that connects new and existing government and private sector systems within a consistent architecture. Among Microsoft’s partners is Extend Health, Inc., which operates the largest private Medicare health insurance exchange in the country and recently won the contract to provide its exchange technology and services to the state of Nevada’s Public Employees’ Benefits Program where it will transition eligible retired employees to individual Medicare supplemental plans.
State HIX solutions from Microsoft and its partners offer a clear, simple choice for building a successful insurance exchange and helping achieve compliance with health reform legislation’s insurance exchange provisions. This offering can provide a state with a single solution that integrates the multiple aspects of health insurance delivery, including consumer portals, eligibility determinations, financial services, plan enrollment, enhanced privacy features and program administration.
“The insurance exchange aspect of healthcare reform is creating the need for states to make decisions and solve problems that lie outside their traditional areas of expertise, such as integrating databases, collecting monthly premiums and calculating tax subsidies,” said Jack Hersey, general manager, United States Public Sector Healthcare and Social Services Group, Microsoft. “Microsoft’s HIX solutions eliminate the need for states to evaluate numerous point solutions from various firms to find one that works well with government policies or existing IT infrastructures. When a state chooses Microsoft’s State Health Insurance Exchange solutions, officials can be confident that their design and implementation partners will be capable and have a proven track record.”
Microsoft’s technologies, including Windows Azure, Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server, serve as the foundation for the HIX solutions and provide a framework made up of well-known, interoperable technology products. Partner technologies, such as Extend Health’s premium administration, plan comparisons, and enrollment and call center operations solutions, layer additional functionality to the robust platform.
“The Microsoft HIX solutions will save states time and money in the design and deployment of the technology underlying health insurance exchanges,” said Bryce Williams, CEO of Extend Health. “It frees states to focus on building proper consumer support to help citizens make their best choice from available healthcare plans.”
Microsoft’s HIX offering also gives states access to the extensive Microsoft partner network for solid expertise in crucial areas such as systems integration, Medicaid Management Information Systems and Medicaid Information Technology Architecture requirements.
More information about Microsoft’s HIX solutions is available at http://www.microsoft.com/hhs.
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