State OKs shift of $124.3 million to move DHS’ online benefits platform to DoIT

The Maryland Department of Human Services is giving control of its online state-benefits platform over to the state Department of Information Technology —along with $124.3 million to cover costs of the transfer.

The shift was approved at last week’s Board of Public Works meeting for the Maryland Total Human-services Integrated Network — known as MD THINK. The program allows state agencies to administer benefits such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, and allows recipients better control over their services.

The change of program oversight better aligns with each departments’ responsibilities, DoIT Secretary Katie Savage said recently.

“As a technology organization, we’re best positioned to make decisions about how to manage and operate the health of the platform,” Savage said.

DHS currently operates the system. With the change, it will still have responsibility for the services that use the platform, but DoIT will operate underlying technologies, Savage said.

The system serves more than 2 million Marylanders, Savage said. Because of its size, the money coming from DHS will go toward cloud services, software and people to administer the platform, she said. 

“The employees won’t experience any real change in their day-to-day, except that they’ll be employees of DoIT instead of the Department of Human services,” Savage said.

The transition will create minimal change on the user-facing side of the platform, and it will affect 43 employees and 450 state contractors, she said.

After this transition year, funds to operate the program will be budgeted directly to DoIT, according to the Board of Public Works, which approved the shift without discussion at its June 11 meeting.

“We’re really excited about this move,” Savage said. “We think it’s important that a technology platform of this size be managed by the Department of Information Technology, which allows the Department of Human Services to focus on the applications and the actual administration of benefits.”