Health Care Authority keeps computer on life support

• Published May 08, 2008

In a show of resourcefulness and hopefulness, the Heath Care Authority today convinced a state board to let it spend $8.8 million more on a project the Legislature tried to cancel this year.

The BAIAS project was supposed to replace a 30-year-old system that handles public employee health insurance benefits, completing 30,000 transactions a day. $7 million had already been spent, but Democrats were looking to save money this year and trimmed the project by some $14 million in the most recent budget.

The trim still left millions in the project account, however, and today agency director Steve Hill told the Information Services Board that if he could spend another $8.8 million, he could position the project to be continued, or at least preserve some of the work that has been done.

Rep. Ross Hunter, a Democrat on the board, said he thought canceling the project was a bad idea, but that was definitely what the Legislature had voted to do. The new plan would countermand the intention, if not the letter of the law.

“I think we should have gone through the members of the Legislature to discuss this more thoroughly and deeply,” he said.

But he was the lone “no” vote. With approval from the rest of the board, including Sen. Dan Swecker, the agency will be able to complete the next phase of the project, validating that the designs created so far will indeed meet needs. That information can be used to re-start the project in the future.

“This board has a responsibility to ensure the information technology projects brought to us are protected,” said Joe Dear.