Objective: The Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) had just been created by the Governor’s pen. The people and systems that enable ODM to perform its mission required separation and partition from its parent agency, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS). This required compartmentalization and re-implementation of the computer systems used by both agencies, most notably MITS, the Ohio Medicaid Information Technology System (MITS), created and supported by HP.
Challenge: The challenge was moving the effort forward while dealing with a significant organizational disruption. Some of the systems involved were aged and fragile. Dividing them between the two agencies was not straightforward.
How I dealt with the challenge: Publicly acknowledging the challenges to the team and dealing with issues directly, frankly, and with sensitivity and care.