DENVER, CO (October 4, 2016) – The 49th annual IT Solutions Management (ISM) Conference, held in Phoenix, Arizona, was an unqualified success on all fronts. With a record breaking attendance of over 1200 participants representing almost every state and US territory, along with representatives from federal oversight agencies, ISM 2016 was the biggest HHS IT event of the year.
ISM 2016 was the culmination of a full year of planning and preparation. SLI Global Solutions was honored to have participated as an industry representative on the ISM 2016 agenda planning and marketing committees. We enjoyed participating in helping shape the agenda to produce informative sessions highlighting Cool Solutions in the Valley of the Sun. At the conference, SLI, including the newly acquired Center for the Support of Families Division, participated as a sponsor, exhibitor, and moderator as well as being part of the inaugural Emerging Leader Program. SLI was also a corporate contributor to the official ISM 2016 Charity Cause, Childhelp.
Dave Jennings, SLI’s Director of Business Development moderated a session titled “Eligibility … To Touch or Not to Touch”, featuring presentations and a panel discussion with representatives from Florida and Montana. While these two states are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of caseloads, both states have had to make major changes to their integrated eligibility systems to accommodate conflicting federal regulations regarding the need for human intervention in the application process. While CMS strongly promotes a no-touch approach to Medicaid applications when all required data is present, FNS regulations still require some level of caseworker/applicant face-to-face interaction for SNAP applications. Both states have developed several technical tools to identify who needs a “touch” as early as possible in the process to enable “no-touch” applications to complete an accelerated approval process. This includes batch programs, portals and pre-population of screens wherever possible. These states have made significant process in reducing application backlogs but would welcome some relief from FNS.
Some relief was realized at ISM 2016 when Jessica Khan, Director, Data and Systems Group (DSG) at CMS, announced that income data from the Federal Data Hub used for Medicaid eligibility can now be used for SNAP and TANF applications. A big step in the right direction for states with integrated eligibility systems.
Susan Learned, an SLI Manager and Senior IV&V Specialist, was selected as an industry representative of the inaugural class of ISM Emerging Leaders. The goal of ISM’s Emerging Leader Program is to identify up and coming leaders within both government and private sector and to provide a “conference within a conference” training program. Susan participated in all of the Emerging Leader workshops and networking events and presented an illustration of how she configures SLI’s ISO Certified Quality Management Methodology to the unique aspects of each project.
SLI also promoted a Twitter campaign for Childhelp – the ISM Technology for a Cause charity, https://www.childhelp.org/APHSA donating $5 for every “I will help #ChildHelp @SLIGlobal” tweet. Steve Esposito, President of SLI’s Government Solutions remarked, “As health and human service IT professionals, SLI believes in giving back and paying it forward. These values are reflected in the ISM’s “Technology for a Cause” tradition. This year, the conference Charity is ChildHelp, a Phoenix-based non-profit charity aiding the victims of child abuse across the nation. As a resident of Phoenix I am well aware of the outstanding and important work Childhelp does on behalf of the most fragile members of our community, abused children. We felt that a Twitter Campaign was the right fit for ISM 2016 with its emphasis on Technology for a Cause. We have raised $375 for Childhelp.”
About SLI Global Solutions
SLI Global Solutions is a GLI Capital Group professional services company with over 27 years of experience providing customers with value-oriented solutions for their most pressing needs. SLI helps clients implement high-quality IT and program improvement solutions through the application of standards-based risk management, quality assurance, project oversight, and software/hardware testing, business process reengineering, and training services. SLI’s team of world-class professionals and thought-leaders serve as quality advocates and trusted advisors by helping improve agency performance and safeguarding that IT systems are developed according to agreed upon standards, fulfilling the business needs/goals and meeting federal or industry certification criteria. We provide certified professional expertise in project management, governance risk & compliance, software testing & quality assurance, BPR, and training for government agencies and commercial clients. For more information, visit www.sliglobalsolutions.com.