Mr. Hoffer. You're right it shouldn't be that hard to get prices for procedures. Folks will be shocked! Unfortunately the link you provided is a link to your offices report on VHCURES and does not provide any prices about any procedures either. Yes. It shouldn't be that hard.
The press and comment-writers seem to want to take story in
the direction of what Shumlin knew, when he knew it and why didn't he tell us.
Hello! why isnât anyone going to dig into the problem itself? e.g. When the
consultant warned about missed deliverables, dates, and milestones, and
recommended escalating these issues to the highest levels, who exactly did
something about it and what did they do? According to Governor Shumlin they didn't tell him. Did anything happen that helped at all? Isn't it someone's job to oversee the contract with CGI, and when there are problems, tell the person who signed the contract (who isn't Shumlin, actually) when it's time to get a corrective action plan from CGI or impose performance penalties on them. (I am assuming, of course, that because state law now requires performance guarantees in state contracts, that payment of the consultant was tied to "deliverables and milestones."
If those weren't being met, was CGI getting paid or getting warnings about
penalties and forced to take corrective action?) Another question: why did the
missed deadlines get to the point where an outside consultant had to warn the
state folks this was nearing the point of project failure? How did it get that
bad to begin with?
I don't mean to underplay the Governor's role in leading his Administration and
being accountable, but there's sure a lot more to this story than the Shumlin
transparency angle, a story that other IT projects could learn from, and I hope
that doesn't get lost in the political play. This isnât the only state IT
project that went wobbly, and we shouldnât lose the opportunity to learn and
get better at this. Building this website to register people for existing
insurance plans from existing carriers who will pay providers using their own
existing software systems and contracts, is a hell of a lot easier than creating
the single payer will be. Donât we want to be up to getting that done? Those
who do not study the past are condemned to repeat it or something like that.
Re: “State Seeks New Payment Framework for Health Care”
Whew! This is a heavier lift than single payer. It will be like corralling cats. Good luck Mr. Gobielle!