CGI provides vital training to Bureau of Health Services financing staff under tight deadlines

“We were able to train our employees online at minimal cost and without losing timeliness and content. We were more than satisfied with the expertise and services provided. We were particularly impressed with the total cooperation of the CGI team”

Joseph Kospa, M.A., J.D., Co-Section Chief, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals

The Client
The Bureau of Health Services Financing (Medicaid) for the State of Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is located in Baton Rouge, with other Health Department offices located in 48 different Parishes throughout the State. The Bureau is responsible for administering the Medicaid program in Louisiana. Medicaid is the public insurance program that reimburses for health care services provided to low-income elderly, disabled and families with children.

The Bureau needed to obtain a comprehensive Web-based training site to train Louisiana Medicaid’s 1,360 person staff on changes made to comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. Considered the most comprehensive legislation to affect the healthcare industry in more than 30 years, HIPAA promises to significantly impact the operations and information systems of most health plans, healthcare providers and clearinghouses in the United States. Organizations impacted by HIPAA must create policies and procedures to comply with HIPAA regulations and are required to provide and document training to all workforces affected by many of these changes. CGI responded to the Bureau’s Request for Proposal and was selected from among many competitors for the task.

The Challenge
CGI won the contract based on its previous experience, price, the hardware and software of its strong production system and its content expertise. However, the challenges it faced were considerable.

This largely rural state’s public health department had limited networking and computer capability as well as offices spread across its territory. The Bureau required that its employees have access to individual training 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as access to supporting course materials and certificates upon successful course completion. It also needed access to administrator reports to monitor participation on line.

Without question, however, the greatest challenge of the engagement was meeting the Bureau’s objective to train 1,360 users in just 10 working days.

The Strategy
Leveraging the speed and efficiency of the Internet, CGI’s Healthcare Learning Center is a quick, convenient and cost-effective alternative for organizations to provide personnel training, and it was this solution that was put to work for the Bureau.

Right from the beginning, CGI and the Bureau’s IT personnel worked closely together. Before the training was launched, the State’s IT department used the CGI Web site to test each office for compatibility.

CGI’s team drew on its comprehensive understanding of the regulatory, strategic, operational, legal and technological issues related to HIPAA implementation. The team also analyzed the Bureau’s policies, procedures and structural changes, identifying key elements to guide its design and development of the training program.

CGI adapted its product to the strengths and limitations of the Bureau’s network, ensuring the Healthcare Learning Center would also be accessible in all of the offices, regardless of the size of the bandwidth or age of the computer being used for the training sessions.

“The working relationship was great,” stressed Joseph Kopsa, the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals’ Co-Section Chief MMIS/HIPAA and DHH Privacy Lead. “CGI’s staff was both responsive and timely in terms of any problems or issues that occurred along the way.”

The Technology

• Oracle database
• Unix/Solaris operating systems
• Language/Tools: Perl
• Vendor: Presenter, Inc. (now WebEx)

The Results
Training for 1,176 – 87% – of the Bureau’s employees was completed within two weeks as planned. The Healthcare Learning Center database tracked and monitored the progress of each employee and provided real-time on-line documentation on an individual’s progress, such as course accessed, course completed and course passed. Staff was able to download course materials and instructions, complete a satisfaction survey, and receive an on-line certificate of completion when they completed the course requirements. The final 13% of employees received training when they returned from vacation, leave, etc. in the weeks that followed. The State of Louisiana employees have access to the Web site for three years to review the course and look up information.

“We were able to train our employees online at minimal cost and without losing timeliness and content,” affirmed Mr. Kopsa. “We were more than satisfied with the expertise and services provided, and we were particularly impressed with the total cooperation of the CGI team.”