Oregon Health Authority's move to automate Medicaid enrollment has cost the state more than four times its initial contract and led to tens of thousands of enrollment delays, according to The Oregonian.
Here are four things to know.
1. OHA spent three years developing the $166.7 million system, known as ONE. However, technical glitches resulted in the agency distributing billions in Medicaid payments without verifying the eligibility of all recipients, the report states.
2. Roughly 300,000 individuals were removed from the program when the authority began verifying eligibility in March 2016. OHA received up to 120,000 calls per month as individuals awaited eligibility verification. In addition, OHA hired more than 600 full-time employees to manually process applications, the report states.
3. According to an internal October report obtained by The Oregonian/Oregon Live, the authority contemplated dismantling the system and replacing it with new technology from Kentucky.
4. However, after consulting with KPMG, Oregon officials remained committed to the project, The Oregonian reports.