Innovations in Health Reform Update February 2013  (pdf)

As States prepare to develop their Exchanges, they must decide what kind of systems infrastructure to implement. Many states may be inclined to develop a centralized, hierarchical architecture because it has been the predominant model of most state IT systems. This month Hunt Blair, Deputy Commissioner of Health Reform for the Vermont Health Access Agency of Human Services, shares with our readers how a “distributed network” approach can help states build an Exchange that “makes connections the way people make connections.” In this interview, Blair goes into detail about how states can realize these and other efficiencies and explains how consumers will be positively impacted by the new approach.

The distributed network, quite literally, “cuts out the middle-man” and allows information to flow directly to the node of interest. According to Blair, this information flow saves time and creates a less costly, more efficient and dependable information exchange network. When deployed as part of ACA infrastructure development, a distributed network can help states make efficient use of available information to make real time enrollment possible. Read the attached interview with Hunt Blair.