Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello announced the online debut of a new Medicaid Management Information System on April 3, 2018. This database allows Medicaid information from the island to be automatically sent to CMS without any manual oversight.
The Medicaid program in Puerto Rico is being released to report data to CMS’s Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS), a longstanding program at the agency. A recent Government Accountability Office report highlighted how this program has seen great interest, but markedly slow improvement. Currently, T-MSIS contains information regarding beneficiary eligibility, enrollment information, claims and managed care data, among other services. The program is in production and current in 45 states across the US.
The deployment of this program comes at a pressing time as Puerto Rico struggles to overcome healthcare shortages in the wake of their disastrous hurricane season. Health information and technology have become increasingly important for the island to cope with challenges in providing care. A lack of electricity and infrastructure has created vast complications for doctors and care providers in reaching patients.
HIMSS convened territorial government officials and chapter advocates from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands during HIMSS18 to explore opportunities with technology innovators and federal government agencies that could lead to improved data sharing and disaster preparedness and response.