Massachusetts Connector: Web Site Connects Uninsured to Universal Coverage

When Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to adopt universal health insurance, it needed technical help to deliver coverage options online and promote individual choice. Partnering with CSC, Massachusetts developed the Commonwealth Connector Web site, www.mahealthconnector.org, which provides a comparison shopping experience unique in the healthcare industry.

“CSC was involved in a partnership approach from the beginning,” says Bob Nevins, chief information officer for the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector. “Unlike other vendors we considered, who thought they knew exactly what we needed before we did, CSC said, ‘We have some ideas, but we’ll work with you to find the right solution.’ Then they brought to bear expertise from several perspectives to deliver a polished finished product much sooner than would have otherwise been possible.”

Blazing trails

Massachusetts mandated universal coverage for all its residents in April 2006. A new state board, the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, known simply as the Connector, launched initiatives to inform residents of the new requirement and to “connect” everyone in the state who wasn’t already insured to affordable health insurance coverage. The Connector was the first of its kind in the United States and had no comparable models to draw on for what it was about to accomplish.

One of the Connector’s major responsibilities is to offer competitive, market-driven coverage from private insurers to individuals, families and small business employees. To enable this, the Connector negotiated for affordable insurance products with insurers, established a customer service center for enrollment and billing, began a marketing and advertising campaign, and built a Web site to help consumers shop for coverage.

Industry and technical expertise

The Connector chose CSC as its IT partner for the Web site project, which got underway in December 2006. Acting as a full-service business and technology solutions provider, CSC assembled a multidisciplinary team with expertise in project management and technical systems integration, and with experience in both health industry and public sector implementations.

The Web team established the vision for the new site within a month. In another month and a half, the team would complete the design phase using HTML “wireframe” prototype pages created by CSC. Because planning for the other major Connector activities was still underway, the Web team found itself helping to define much of the early design of Connector business processes, including the shopping experience and online branding initiative.

To meet the demanding five-month deadline set by the Connector, the Web team elected to use portal application and content management tools offered by Vignette Corp. of Austin, Texas. The team designed and integrated J2EE and Java server page functionality with the standard Vignette portlets, and also created Cascading Style Sheet and other HTML components to complete the overall look and feel of the site.

CSC supplied the hosting infrastructure and also helped develop a content authoring plan. From start to finish, the development phase took just six weeks to complete, and the Connector’s Web site rolled out on schedule in May 2007.

Mission-critical and award-winning

The Web site gave residents, employers, employees and brokers working on their behalf nearly two full months to compare health plan details and shop for coverage before the law took effect on July 1, 2007. Within the first month of operation, the percentage of enrollments completed online rose from 0 to 80 percent. CSC has remained the Connector’s partner in rolling out new functionality for small employers and health insurance renewals.

The site can support a peak demand of 80 concurrent page views per second. It also contains links to related Web sites hosted by other state entities, contractors and participating health insurance carriers, enabling users to research doctors. Since the Connector receives a fee for coverage placed through it with participating carriers, the Web site is critical to the Connector’s goal to become self-sustaining by 2009.

“The Web site has been rock solid in its availability and performance since its launch,” says Greg DeBor, a CSC health solutions partner. “As a result, it is recognized as the destination and go-to service for Massachusetts health care reform and has been featured prominently in the media campaign and advertising for the new coverage plans created by the law.”

The Commonwealth Connector Web site project received a 2007 InfoWorld 100 award from InfoWorld Media Group, a leading technology industry publisher. The InfoWorld Web site states, "Every year, InfoWorld celebrates 100 IT organizations that have made the best use of technology in pursuit of business goals. Whether ushering legacy systems into the agile era or revolutionizing how their companies leverage technology to meaningful ends, this year's winners are both inspiration and proof that striking a new path in IT can reap deep organizational rewards."

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