2005 Testimony
Testimony Before the Senate Appropriations
Senator Holmberg, Chairman
HB 1012 - DHS Budget - Administrative Support Budget Area
March 1, 2005
Chairman Holmberg, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am Jennifer Witham, Director of Information Technology for the Department of Human Services. I am here today to provide you an overview of the budget for the Division of Information Technology.
The Department's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) provides services to support the business needs of the central office divisions, the eight Human Service Centers, the State Hospital, the Developmental Center, and to the county social service boards across North Dakota, including regional child support enforcement offices.
The following table represents the division's 2005 - 2007 budget request with comparisons to the division's current biennium's budget.
| Current Budget 2003-2005 |
Increase / (Decrease) | Executive Recommendation 2005-2007 | House Changes | Request to Senate |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries and Wages | $3,533,815 | $18,475 | $3,552,290 | ($12,775) | $3,539,51 |
| Operating Expenses | $29,287,769 | $27,646,574 | $56,934,343 | ($29,188,859) | $27,745,484 |
| Capital Assets | $295,050 | ($292,294) | $2,756 | - | $2,756 |
| Total Budget | $33,116,634 | $27,372,755 | $60,489,389 | ($29,201,634) | $31,287,755 |
| MMIS Replacement | $1,600,000 | $27,588,859 | $29,188,859 | ($29,188,859) | - |
| Base Operations | $31,516,634 | ($216,104) | $31,300,530 | ($12,775) | $31,287,755 |
| General | $13,583,730 | $4,249,508 | $17,833,238 | ($3,676,566) | $14,156,672 |
| Federal | $18,128,125 | $22,994,537 | $41,122,662 | ($25,525,068) | $15,597,594 |
| Other | $1,404,779 | $128,710 | $1,533,489 | - | $1,533,489 |
| FTE | 33 | - | 33 | - | 33 |
The division's 2005-2007 budget request, excluding the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) replacement project, represents a decrease of $216,104 over the current biennium's budget.
Salaries and Wages
- Salaries and wages increased by $18,475, however, this figure includes a salary and health adjustment of $212,847, of which $160,463 is general funds. Prior to the application of this adjustment, the net reduction in salary and wages was $194,372.
- In the table above, the 2003-2005 FTE count is thirty-three. However, in our budget work papers, we inadvertently made the reduction twice for the three FTEs that were reduced due to functional consolidation. Although the correct FTE count for 2003-2005 is thirty-six, thirty-three is the FTE count you will see in all the Budget and Reporting System (BARS) documents and in the analysis work completed by the Legislative Council.
- In addition to the thirty-three FTEs, the division's budget also includes three temporary staff of which two are part-time desktop support and one is full-time MMIS support. The staff responsibilities are assigned as follows:
| Management | 3 | Division Director System Support Services Manager Administrative Assistant |
| System Support Services (12 FTEs, 2 part-time temporary positions) |
||
| Desktop Support | 0.5 | Northwest HSC, Williston (PT Temp) |
| 1 | North Central HSC, Minot | |
| 0.5 | Lake Region HSC, Devils Lake (PT Temp) | |
| 1 | Northeast HSC, Grand Forks | |
| 1 | Southeast HSC, Fargo | |
| 0.5 | South Central HSC, Jamestown | |
| 1 | West Central HSC, Bismarck | |
| 1 | Badlands HSC, Dickinson | |
| 1.5 | State Hospital, Jamestown | |
| 1 | Developmental Center, Grafton | |
| 2 | Central Office | |
| EDMS Support | 1 | Central Office |
| Security Officer | 1 | Central Office |
| Program Support Services (18 FTEs, 1 full-time temporary position) |
||
| Functional Area | 4 | Medical Services (1 FT Temp) |
| 2 | Economic Assistance | |
| 2 | Child Support | |
| 3 | Regional HSCs | |
| 2 | State Hospital / Developmental Center | |
| 0.5 | Administration | |
| 1.5 | Other Central Office Programs | |
| Data Entry | 4 | |
Operating Expenses - MMIS Replacement Project
- Included in the 2005-2007 budget is a request for $29.2 million to replace the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). MMIS processes medical claims for payment and generates utilization information for the Medicaid program. The current MMIS is over 26 years old and is built on outdated system architecture.
- The State Information Technology Advisory Committee (SITAC), which reviews and prioritizes technology projects, ranked this project as the second most critical in its recommendation to the Legislative IT Committee regarding all major projects proposed for this biennium.
- On January 5, 2005 the Department received notice of approval for the enhanced federal match of 90% for the design, development and implementation of a new MMIS.
- Currently Medicaid eligibility is determined and managed in two separate eligibility systems, TECS and Vision. A portion of the MMIS project includes incorporating the Medicaid eligibility functions from the TECS system into Vision. This portion of the project is expected to be funded at a 50% federal match, therefore the general fund requirement for this project is estimated to be $3.7 million.
Other Operating Expenses
- The remaining operating expenses included in the 2005-2007 budget request, i.e. expenses exclusive of the MMIS replacement, represent an increase of $57,715 over the current biennium, or approximately 0.2%.
- Eighty-four percent, or $23.3 million, of the funding requested to support DHS business operations are paid to the Department of Information Technology (ITD). These ITD services reflect the costs associated with software development and support, mainframe and server processing, network access and disk storage.
- Although the operating budget only increased by 0.2%, there are several significant changes included in this budget worth noting:
- $863,000 ($665,000 in general funds) for ConnectND operating expenses
- $670,000 ($227,800 general funds) for modifications to the child support system in order to continue to meet federal requirements
- $171,400 (all general funds) for the Regional Office Automation Program (ROAP) to convert to a relational database
- $230,000 ($91,577 general funds) to make the necessary changes to the MMIS system to accommodate Medicaid Part D changes
- Due to the projected savings in desktop and laptop equipment purchases through the new statewide contract, the department can move from a six year replacement cycle to a four year replacement cycle with no increase in funding required
- The remaining budget request represents costs associated with third party service agreements, hardware/software purchases and other operating expenses such as office supplies, travel and regular office expenses.
Capital Assets
$2,756 of bond and interest payments for a staff person located at the Southeast Human Service Center.
Overall, the Division of Information Technology's requested budget represents 3.6% of the Department's Executive budget request for the 2005-2007 biennium, inclusive of the MMIS replacement project.
Thank you. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them now.
House Changes
- The salary line was reduced by the change in the proposed salary package for all employees. The overall reduction was $12,775.
- As David Zentner presented earlier today, the House removed the funding for the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) replacement project. If this project is not funded, consideration will need to be given regarding required HIPAA modifications to the current MMIS system in 2005-2007. Anticipated modifications include the incorporation of the national provider identifier and acceptance of claims attachments. These modifications have been estimated to cost $3.2 million. If enhanced federal match is allowed, this project would require approximately 10% or $320,000 in state general funds.
Thank you. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them now.
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