Maine's Medicaid System Costs Rise Again

Maine's Department of Health and Human Services will pay another $7 million on a failed Medicaid claims processing system before it can kill the project, according to an article in Maine's Times Record.

The total cost of the claims processing system could surpass $70 million, close to five times the amount Maine agreed to pay in 2001, when it awarded a $15 million contract to CNSI to develop the system. When the system was switched on in January 2005, it immediately began to have processing problems. IT program management experts blamed the state for not following best practices for project management, as reported by CIO Magazine.

Maine decided earlier this year to scrap the system in favor of privatizing the claims processing system.