Policy & Practice | August 2019

The Vision The holistic approach of the MD THINK program achieves both cost and performance efficiencies by: 1. Consolidating expensive local on- premise hosting; 2.Reducing duplicate data entry across multiple siloed systems providing high-quality platform and data security to all applications; and 3. Allowing agencies to leverage several other common services in the integrated architecture that would otherwise have to be built separately for each individual application. The Benefits Customers of MD THINK benefit from: 1. One master customer portal: Customers access all health and human services options through a common portal. They can create an application on a web or mobile inter- face, upload supporting documents, have their eligibility determined, and enroll in a service—all in one portal. 2.Shorter turnaround times: Customers experience quicker turn- around times because of streamlined eligibility determination rules. 3.Efficient document handling and reporting: Transmission of

technology system that could host the state’s health and human services applications on a unified platform and utilize common services, security, and infrastructure. Thus, MD THINK’s integrated, cloud-based, technology platform was born. The MD THINK program is breaking down agency silos and data barriers to provide better access and integrated resources. The platform offers a common hosting service where multiple state agencies and their applications come together to leverage shared services, such as enter- prise security, business rules, data management, reporting, forecasting, business analytics, and document storage and retrieval. The MD THINK shared services platform is built on the Amazon Web Services cloud and went live in August 2017.

enrollment and other documents is quicker and more efficient due to automated scan and upload functions where documents are concurrently available to multiple applications. 4.Improved quality of service: The modernized platform and use of shared data enable state agencies to deliver the highest level of service to Maryland customers. In addition to improving the customer experience, MD THINK significantly benefits participating Maryland state agencies and their staff, particularly their caseworkers. Caseworkers are the backbone of Maryland’s health and human services. Caseworkers and the state will benefit from: 1. Reduction in fraud, waste, and abuse: MD THINK’s consolidated cloud technology, its applications, and its shared data repository greatly reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. MD THINK’s metrics track the accuracy, efficiency, and automated checks and balances within the application processing system to con- tinually identify and deploy system improvements.

Som S. Mukherjee is PMO (Project Management Office) Director of MDTHINK at the Maryland Department of Human Services.

See MD Think on page 32

Policy&Practice August 2019 22