McKinsey to consult with IRS on health care law IT

The IRS has tapped McKinsey for an $843,000 consulting job to help assess a series of IT projects required to support the implementation of the 2010 health care overhaul. The IRS is seeking outside help in part because of the complications in keeping up with changes to HealthCare.gov, as the website continues to evolve.

The IRS role in the law takes place largely behind the scenes.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is responsible for the bulk of the IT contracting, including the HealthCare.gov portal that flopped publicly when it launched last October. The IRS has a role in connecting with the data services hub that checks the accuracy of enrollment information, and providing advance tax credits to subsidize premium payments and to reconcile those credits with individual tax returns once they are filed.

The IRS has its own IT office dedicated to compliance, and so far, according to contracting documents, it has made its production deadlines. But an intensive group of five releases due before 2016 is expected to be "particularly complicated” because of intense integration."

Changing business requirements, potentially coming from CMS and the states that maintain their own insurance exchange, add to the challenge.

IRS is looking to McKinsey for an assessment of the agency’s ability to deliver the promised new releases on time and on budget. The scope of work includes analyzing existing plans and documentation to assess the potential risks, assessing the agency's capacity to deliver and identify any major readiness gaps, and making recommendations to avert problems.