The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs to brush up its information technology investment process, according to a governmental report.
As a result of weaknesses in the process, CMS may receive less than effective support and perhaps greater risk for its Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Government Accountability Office said this week. IT appropriations for CMS in fiscal year 2005 totaled $2.5 billion.
Some weaknesses cited by the GAO: CMS’s investment management guide does not reflect current policies and procedures for selecting and reselecting investments are not fully documented.
Also, while the IT Investment Review Board was established in 2004 to review the progress of IT projects and systems, there are not clear procedures for involving it in reviews.
For more information on the report, go to http://www.gao.gov/. Look under Reports and Testimony.
