Enactment of the new healthcare reform law in the US, the Affordable Care Act, created a range of new obligations for states in the US to provide access to healthcare in accordance with provisions of the new legislation.

The State of Hawaii selected KPMG in the US to modernize its systems to enable faster and more accurate processing for the increasing numbers applying for its medical assistance programs. Hawaii set an aggressive timeline for the project – with a plan to complete in nine months a scope that might have previously taken 24 months or more.

“The key to meeting all of Hawaii’s requirements, as well as the timeline, was approaching the project as a business integrator, not just a technology provider,” said Craig Grivette, KPMG engagement lead for the Hawaii project.

Collaborating closely with Hawaii’s dedicated staff, a fully integrated system was designed and implemented, providing online interfaces, automating program eligibility policies, managing millions of pages of documents and automating client correspondence.

“We built the solution in a private cloud architecture that our KPMG team runs for the client, while Hawaii officials and staff access and manage their eligibility business functions,” added Grivette.

“Our number one priority is the health and welfare of our residents,” said Patricia McManaman, Director for the State of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services. “The modernization project has reduced the processing time from many weeks to a few days or less, and helped ensure that hundreds of thousands of applicants are getting the correct medical assistance. Throughout our engagement, the KPMG team has demonstrated keen insight into our business processes and worked under tight timelines to deliver a robust system for Hawaii’s Medicaid beneficiaries.”

With the success of the medical assistance eligibility system, Hawaii intends to expand the project to upgrade processes for all of its entitlement programs, including financial, nutritional and general assistance.