Project Title – College of Public Health – Medicaid Project

Short Description –

DR Martin and DR  Halpern (both faculty members in Health Services Administration and Policy) as part of a proposed research project would like to create a proof of concept web-based service for Medicaid patients to more accurately find providers accepting their coverage in the Philadelphia area. 

Medicaid patients often have difficulty-finding physicians who accept their insurance, and current state-curated Medicaid lists are often out of date.  The goal of this project would be to create a mobile optimized website or app listing Philadelphia physicians who accept Medicaid (searchable by physician specialty) and allow users to identify nearby physicians or those easily accessible by public transportation using GPS features.  We plan to use this proof of concept solution as part of a grant submission to secure funding for further development and evaluation.  

Current system

What are you doing now?  What parts are done manually?  What parts are automated?  How are the automated?  What current websites are related to this project?

This is a proof of concept system so there is no existing system to replace.  The business process exists for anyone who wants to find a physician who will accept his or her insurance.

Who would use the system?

The clients would administer the system and anyone who had internet access could use the system to locate a physician.

Project Outline  

Please describe what you would like the new system to do.  What are the required features that you want?  What is the problem or critical issue the project would solve?  Include any relevant artifacts (documents used as part of this process).  Are there any risks or areas to be aware of or concerned?

●     The system would need to be able to load a list of Medicaid providers from an Excel spreadsheet. 

●     The users would be able to input parameters to narrow the search results

●     It must be GPS enabled so the system “knows” the location of the person requesting the query.

●     The administrators would need to be able to add, change or delete (inactivate) an existing Medicaid provider.

●     The system would have a link to Google maps so the person could find out where and how to get to the provider

●     Data about the provider would need to be maintained such as specialization – location – etc.

●     The users would need to be able to download information

●     Must work on mobile devises – responsive design.

Optional Features: TBD

Other items for the team to know –

The following API will allow for automating searches.  They do pull NPI numbers and there are basic free searches that can be conducted – https://developer.betterdoctor.com/documentation15This API would help us automate the search commands a bit more.  

There seems to be some other APIs which will pull Medicaid NPIs as well.  https://www.hipaaspace.com/WebServices/HIPAASpaceMedicaidService.asmx

Mike is not available on 9/6 at 9:00am – he could meet at 10:30 or between 2 to 5:30 on 9/6.  Thomas is away on 9/7 & 9/8.

Expected Results of the Project – Individuals who are looking for a physician who accepts their insurance would be able to enter parameters and get back a list with information about the provider.