Building Something from Nothing: How Changes in the Healthcare Industry Kickstarted a Testing Revolution for Medicaid Agencies
Every person in the United States will, in every stage of their life, interact with the Healthcare industry. In 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a modernization act which had a ripple effect for states. The State of Vermont, along with every other state and territory, needed to begin upgrading legacy systems - systems that are 30, 40, or even 50 years old - and bring Medicaid into the future. Given that Vermont’s legacy systems have no historical documentation of as-is process flows, no future-state, no requirements, no documentation of code or set up, implementing new systems in a modular fashion (while still adhering to Federal and State Legislative Mandates, policies, etc.) proved to be a daunting task. This session will give attendees who may not be familiar with the industry some insight into several ways states have needed to stand up testing teams and mature their SDLCs rapidly, based on previous projects and events on the horizon. While not exhaustive, it will provide an insider’s view of a critical industry with plenty of testing management touchpoints
Renee Taylor works for Vermont’s Agency of Human Services (AHS) Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) as the Test Manager/Director. She has developed a well-respected testing team from a single person (herself) into a team of 12 dedicated testers, with varying levels of skill and experience, that have been involved in over 25 IT implementations over the course of eight years. Renee is passionate about testing and is an advocate for State Medicaid Agencies to share their testing experience with each other to build stronger testing teams nationwide. She has earned her B.S. in Computer & Information Systems along with a Software Security Certificate, ISTQB Certification (AL-TM), and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).