Department of Public Health and Human Services
The Technology Services Division (TSD) is committed to providing a robust, flexible, and secure enterprise IT environment that supports the Department of Public Health and Human Services' (DPHHS) mission of serving Montanans to improve health, safety, and well-being, and to empower independence. The department requires information technology solutions that are modern, secure, and responsive to citizens' needs. To achieve this, TSD and the State Information Technology Services Division (SITSD) work collaboratively, leveraging functional and cooperative practices to enhance our ability to deliver on strategic imperatives. Our scope of services is designed for successful outcomes and aligns with both the department’s and SITSD’s strategic plans, goals, and objectives.
Goals
Agency Goals and Objectives1. Design for Human Experience
2. Enable Strategic Solutions
3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions
4. Improve Service Delivery
5. Improve Digital Transformation
Objectives
-
Develop long-range IT (LRIT) delivery strategies and execution plans to support large-scale system replacements.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Enable Strategic Solutions
2. Improve Service Delivery -
Modernize legacy applications, infrastructure, and processes.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Enable Strategic Solutions
2. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions
3. Improve Service Delivery -
Promote enterprise technology software, services, and digital platforms.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Improve Digital Transformation
2. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions
3. Improve Service Delivery -
Promote access to relevant and readily available data to support data-driven initiatives, statistical analyses, and performance management.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Improve Service Delivery
1. Cost Optimization & Efficiency
2. Improve Business Value
Objectives
-
Optimize IT investments to improve process efficiency, enable innovation, and advance divisional program goals and objectives.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Financial Stewardship -
Capitalize on proven and operational solutions within the DPHHS software portfolio.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Financial Stewardship
1. Build a ‘People First’ Culture
Objectives
-
Motivate and empower TSD team members to generate new ideas, innovate, and solve problems while identifying new ways of working to enhance outcomes and boost employee morale.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Workforce Capacity -
Accelerate skill-building and professional development opportunities, and promote the strategic application of value-added skills and capabilities across the DPHHS IT portfolio.
State Strategic Plan Objective Reference:
1. Workforce Capacity
Information Technology Resources and Capabilities
Number of FTE: 11
The IT Program Management Office (PMO) defines, maintains, and ensures operational governance and standards across the Technology Services Division, setting the standard for IT projects and engagements throughout the department. Key focus areas include strategic programming, IT project and portfolio management, enterprise program management, alignment with organizational goals and objectives, executive and legislative communications, and customer satisfaction.
The Project Management Bureau (PMB) provides centralized project and quality management services for designing, developing, and deploying departmental information technology (IT) projects. The team collaborates with departmental programs to determine project needs during the planning and development stages and works closely with program and vendor teams throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Its mission sets the stage for successfully implementing IT solutions that bring value to the department and the citizens we serve.
Number of FTE: 28
The Application Development and Hosting Bureau (ADHB) provides application development, system integration, configuration and support, database administration, and data center hosting services. ADHB hosts internal and contractor-developed applications on Linux and related Unix servers. The Java application development group builds and supports Java and Python applications. The enterprise development group supports COTS solutions like ServiceNow and Hyland Perceptive, enterprise solutions like PERQS, ARMS, and Contracts, and legacy solutions for many DPHHS divisions. ADHB supports a variety of integrations involving both internally supported and contracted solutions.
Number of FTE: 21
The Support and Security Bureau (SSB) provides technical support services, including the installation and management of all personal computers, software, printers, and other devices connected to the department's network. The Bureau operates the Technology Services Center (TSC), a service desk offering first and second-level support to the department's employees, stakeholders, citizens, and vendors. Additionally, the Bureau includes the Network Security Unit, which is responsible for access control and security operations. The SSB also serves as a liaison between the department and the State's central IT organization (SITSD) for telecommunications and wide-area network (WAN) services.
Number of FTE: 18
The Montana Program for Automating and Transforming Healthcare (MPATH) team is responsible for implementing, enhancing, and supporting the systems and services that sustain Montana Healthcare Programs. Utilizing a modular strategy in multi-phased implementation projects, the team is replacing the 37+ year-old legacy Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) and its 48 ancillary components with modern COTS and cloud-based solutions. MPATH also develops and coordinates module procurements, provides project management oversight for module DDI, performs contract management and oversight, and manages operations and support activities.
Number of FTE: 3
The Data Management Office (DMO) provides centralized data services for the department. The DMO is responsible for data governance and ensures consistency in policies and procedures regarding data security, collection, utilization, and dissemination. The office promotes access to relevant and readily available data to support data-driven initiatives, statistical analyses, and performance management.
Number of FTE: 3
The Compliance and Security Office (CSO) is responsible for conducting risk management framework assessments, developing policies, and ensuring compliance with information security regulations and guidelines. The CSO manages an information security program that adheres to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) risk management framework.
Projects
| Division | Child Support Services Division (CSSD) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | This project aims to deliver effective and efficient child support services by automating, streamlining, and optimizing case management processes. It seeks to enhance customer service and improve outcomes for children and families while also increasing employee engagement, productivity, and morale. By leveraging data-driven processes, the project will drive performance improvements to achieve optimal outcomes. Additionally, it aims to expand client access to information through mobile-enabled self-service tools, thereby empowering families with greater convenience and accessibility. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 4/1/2024 | Estimated Delivery | 12/31/2026 | |
| Estimated Cost | 31,521,000 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 4,412,940 - Comment: State Special: 6,304,200 - Comment: Federal Special: 20,803,860 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 3,521,000 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | DPHHS is in the planning stage(s) of this multi-year project. The planning phase is 35% complete. $0 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
| Division | Health Care Facilities Practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | This project is integral to DPHHS’s strategy for developing a robust, community-centric regional behavioral healthcare system that meets inpatient service demands while strengthening community-based outpatient care. A central element of this initiative is the deployment of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, which ensures federal compliance, minimizes errors associated with paper records, improves workflow efficiency, and enables data-driven decision-making. The project also offers additional benefits, including: 1. Improved patient treatment across the care continuum, 2. Better care coordination with streamlined access to records, 3. Cost savings through reduced paperwork and workflow redundancies, 4. Enhanced data aggregation and analysis, 5. Improved diagnostics. 6. Better patient outcomes. 7. Increased patient safety. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 4/1/2024 | Estimated Delivery | 12/31/2026 | |
| Estimated Cost | 27,607,304 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 25,000,000 - Comment: State Special: 2,321,690 - Comment: Federal Special: 285,614 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 1,600,000 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | DPHHS is in the planning stage(s) of this multi-year project. The planning phase is 40% complete. $0 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
| Division | Child and Family Services Division (CFSD) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | The project aims to enhance the delivery of child welfare services, leading to better outcomes for children and families through consistent and coordinated service delivery. It seeks to streamline administrative processes, thereby reducing the burden on child welfare staff. The project also focuses on improving data quality, reporting, and analytics to support informed decision-making, ensuring greater accuracy and timeliness in child welfare reporting. Additionally, it targets enhanced performance, scalability, availability, and security while reducing system development and maintenance costs. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 9/1/2023 | Estimated Delivery | 7/1/2027 | |
| Estimated Cost | 30,521,000 | Comment | Includes $5,445,238 awarded from FY2019B HB10 funding as described in "Funding Source" comments. | |
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 12,537,881 - Comment: Federal Special: 12,537,881 - Comment: FY2019B HB10 Funding: 5,445,238 - Comment: 50/50 split between State $2,722,619 and Federal $2,722,619 sources | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 3,052,100 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | CFSD is 100% complete with the project planning stage and 60% complete with the procurement stage(s) of the project. $260,000 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
| Division | Human and Community Services Division (HCSD) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | The project aims to ensure the secure and instantaneous transfer of funds to eligible SNAP, TANF, and WIC recipients while maintaining continuity in EBT benefit distribution and card management services. It also enhances the state's ability to detect and track both retailer and recipient fraud through a comprehensive EBT audit trail. Additionally, the project supports the state's commitment to leveraging digital technologies to better serve Montanans. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 8/1/2024 | Estimated Delivery | 10/1/2025 | |
| Estimated Cost | 2,500,000 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 1,250,000 - Comment: Federal Special: 1,250,000 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 1,000,000 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | DPHHS is in the planning stage(s) of this project. $0 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
| Division | Medicaid and Health Services Practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | The project aims to leverage a COTS and cloud-based system to rapidly adapt to evolving federal and state healthcare policies through configuration. This new system will improve efficiencies by automating drug rebate processes for invoicing and payment, and by using analytics to monitor drug utilization and detect patterns of abuse and fraud. Additional benefits include managing Medicaid costs while ensuring access to pharmacy benefits for members, preventing unnecessary Medicaid spending through enhanced prospective drug utilization reviews, and modernizing system performance monitoring to ensure seamless pharmacy claims processing. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 4/1/2025 | Estimated Delivery | 12/31/2026 | |
| Estimated Cost | 9,000,000 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 900,000 - Comment: Federal Special: 8,100,000 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 3,500,000 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | DPHHS is in the planning stage(s) of this project. $0 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
| Division | Medicaid and Health Services Practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | The Enterprise Systems Integration Platform is the backbone of the department's Medicaid Enterprise Systems (MES), supporting secure data sharing across over 54 systems vital for coordinating member care, authorizing services, paying claims, and enabling data-driven decision-making. Serving as the front door to the MES for members, providers, and other entities, the platform is essential to support ongoing data exchanges and future integrations as part of the department's modernization efforts. Enhancements to the platform's infrastructure will ensure secure and timely access for all stakeholders, aligning with advancements in technology to meet the evolving needs of Montana’s Medicaid Enterprise Systems. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Enable Strategic Solutions 2. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 3. Improve Service Delivery 4. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 1/1/2024 | Estimated Delivery | 12/31/2026 | |
| Estimated Cost | 30,556,130 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 3,055,613 - Comment: Federal Special: 27,500,517 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | Comment | Estimated Annual Ongoing Cost: N/A (contract designated as Design, Development, Implementation through 10-year contract term) | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | This project will be delivered in three phases to transition Montana Enterprise Systems (MES) access to high availability. The project aims to reduce system downtime, provide resource scalability during periods of high usage, and improve overall system performance. Phase 1, which involved moving the MES Integration Platform from the IBM Cloud to the AWS Cloud, is 100% complete. To date, $2,975,000 from available DOA appropriations has been expended. | |||
| Division | Medicaid and Health Services Practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project / Program Purpose and Objectives | This project ensures Montana's compliance with the CMS 'Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule,' empowering patients by improving access to healthcare information and supporting informed decision-making. The initiative aims to enhance member access to healthcare data, provider information, and prior authorization through mobile applications, fostering greater self-sufficiency. The rule mandates that payers provide access to healthcare claims, clinical data, provider directories, real-time hospital notifications, and payer-to-payer data exchanges. These measures improve care coordination for dually eligible individuals, streamline prior authorization processes, and reduce burdens on healthcare providers. | |||
| State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference | 1. Design for Human Experience 2. Enable Strategic Solutions 3. Streamline and Elevate Customer Interactions 4. Improve Service Delivery 5. Improve Digital Transformation | |||
| Estimated Start | 7/3/2023 | Estimated Delivery | 6/30/2025 | |
| Estimated Cost | 3,750,000 | Comment | ||
| HB 10 Request | Yes | Funding Sources | General Fund: 375,000 - Comment: Federal Special: 3,375,000 - Comment: | |
| Annual Costs Upon Completion | 560,000 | Comment | ||
| Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. | DPHHS is in the planning stage(s) of this project. $0 have been transferred into TSD from available DOA appropriations. | |||
Summary of Hardware
I have reviewed all of my agency's systems in Assurance CM and certify that it is accurate: Yes
| Total Number of Appliances | 0 | DPHHS has no appliances of this type, except for virtual servers hosted by SITSD. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Number of Physical Servers | 0 | DPHHS has no physical servers. | |
| Total Number of Virtualized Servers | 0 | All DPHHS virtual servers are on equipment hosted by SITSD. | |
| Total Usable Storage Space | 0 | GB |
| Device Type | Quantity | Estimated Replacement Value | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laptops | 1,672 | 2,247,338 | |
| Desktops | 1,610 | 1,195,352 | |
| Bar Code Scanner | 2 | 100 | |
| Microsoft Teams Rooms | 8 | 40,000 | This estimate is an approximate value of building a Microsoft Teams Room with supporting equipment. |
| Poly Video Conferencing Rooms | 2 | 12,000 | This estimate is an approximate value of building a Poly(com) room with supporting equipment. |
| Mobile Phones | 884 | 181,000 | |
| Medical Dispensing Carts | 9 | 450,000 | |
| Cameras | 500 | 385,949 |
Agency Contact Information
(406) 444-5623
charles.brereton@mt.gov
111 N SANDERS ST RM 301, Helena, MT 59601-4520
(406) 444-9407
carrie.albro@mt.gov
111 N SANDERS ST RM 301, Helena, MT 59601-4520
(406) 444-0329
michael.delatorre@mt.gov
111 N SANDERS ST RM 301, Helena, MT 59601-4520