Phil Hernandez CIO Pennsylvania Department of Welfare	Gary R. Rossman Director Office of Information Management PA Office of Mental Retardation Department of Public Welfare	Terry A. Shuchart Director Bureau of Data and Claims Management Pennsylvania Office of Medical Assistance

Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Room: Monarch Room H

The Human Services Network (HNet) is a strategy to reengineer, standardize, and integrate business processes and information systems for delivery of human service assistance to the citizens of Pennsylvania. HNet began with an assessment to identify opportunities for coordination and collaboration across the various human service programs administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. The assessment involved identifying the common business processes across the Department and exploring the synergies to be gained by sharing best practices and automated business processes across lines of business. The Department continues to build the data and technology infrastructure to support the strategy of integration and coordination and to extend the scope of collaboration to include other Commonwealth agencies and county governments.

The HNet vision is to enable citizens and businesses to have seamless and coordinated access to the human services offered by the Commonwealth.

This presentation will explain the process and the lessons learned in executing the strategy. Case studies will highlight the use of shared, enterprise-wide applications to automate common business processes and an integrated approach to automating shared functions between two line-of-business applications, PROMISe (Provider Reimbursement and Operations Management Information System) for Medicaid claims processing and HCSIS (Home and Community Services Information System) for Medicaid and Medicaid waiver case management. These initiatives improve operational efficiency and coordination of care and, in the long term, will reduce total costs of ownership through decreased development, implementation, and training costs.

Presenters:

Phil Hernandez
CIO
Pennsylvania Department of Welfare

Phil Hernandez has served as the Chief Information Officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare since June 1998. The Department is the largest Pennsylvania state agency, with 22,000 employees and an annual budget in excess of $18 billion. Phil established a strategic information resource management planning process for the Department and led the planning and execution of the Department’s strategy to use technology to assist in the integration and coordination of services across the various human service lines of business.

His career has included over 25 years as a consultant and information technology manager in medical research and development, education, health care, and the U. S. Army. Prior to moving to Pennsylvania he served as the technology director for a multi-hospital integrated health care network serving an eleven county area in central Texas.

Phil earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and his MBA in business from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Gary R. Rossman
Director
Office of Information Management
PA Office of Mental Retardation
Department of Public Welfare

Mr. Rossman is the Director of the Office of Information Management for the PA Office of Mental Retardation, Department of Public Welfare. The Office is currently managing a business re-engineering project that is developing an information system that will support the Department’s 13 state and Federal Home and Community Services Waiver Programs.

Mr. Rossman has been with the PA Office of Mental Retardation since 1992. Mr. Rossman was with the PA Office of Mental Health for 13 years in a variety of program administration and operational capacities. Prior to that he was the human services coordinator for the PA Association of County Commissioners.

Terry A. Shuchart
Director
Bureau of Data and Claims Management
Pennsylvania Office of Medical Assistance

Ms. Shuchart is the director of the Bureau of Data and Claims Management within the Pennsylvania Office of Medical Assistance Programs. She is responsible for planning, organizing and directing the development, implementation, and maintenance of Pennsylvania's Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) and all supporting systems.

Pennsylvania is currently in the process of replacing their legacy MMIS which is over 20 years old, which will result in a new integrated system that will process claims for several offices within the Department of Public Welfare - not solely Medicaid claims. This new claims processing system is scheduled to be implemented in March 2004.