Policy & Practice October 2017

• Development, testing, rollout, and maintenance plans and costs • Use of the data o Informational use o Validation and verification o Interface with existing systems o Analytics o Timeliness for information sharing and decision-making • Security, authentication, and identity management • Change management o Staff o Program participants o Service delivery and community partners • Legal authority o Digital signatures o Regulatory and statutory base, such as the authority to electronically share information and provide notices • Return on investment to government o Savings such as printing, postage, and mail handling o Impact on call volumes o Ability to redeploy staff time • Program impacts o Ability to increase reporting, communication, and timeliness of notices o Ability to track and verify actions o Ability to validate information directly with the program participant • Intended purpose o Informational use only o Promoting behavioral change, such as targeted public health programs o Driving personal responsibility, such as responding to program expectations consistent with incentives and sanctions o Recruitment or engagement o Fulfilling a legal notification in a meaningful manner • Public access o Hours and convenience o Ease of navigation o Back-end support, including the ability to talk to a live person • Contingencies for those who aren’t able to access digital services, or prefer not to o Use of responsive design to enable access via desktop, mobile, kiosk, public computer, etc. o Traditional paper, phone, and walk-in access Considerations Checklist Many states have already taken significant steps toward digital. As with any change, there are several things to consider as you immerse more fully into the digital world.

be used to deposit a paper check, it can also be used to submit other kinds of paper documents. In Wyoming and New Mexico, MAXIMUS Digital Solutions launched an app that helps employers meet their federal and state reporting requirements. When a new employee is hired, the employer must submit information about that individual to certain databases. With the MAXIMUS New Hire Reporting app, an employer can take a picture of the required information and upload it. The process takes only seconds per new hire, rather than the minutes required to key in data. For the small business owners who already manage their business from a smart- phone, this type of innovation has significant value. Apps allow us to get things done quickly and efficiently, and there are vast opportunities yet to be identified and tackled. Today’s smartphones have immense power and capabilities, including GPS, augmented and virtual reality, health and fitness sensors, and the aforementioned camera. The challenge is in how to best apply these tools to solve business and process challenges faced by health and human services agencies. Another “mobile-friendly” option that states are rapidly adopting is responsive design. In its simplest form, a responsive website is one that automatically adjusts to fit the screen on which it is being viewed. When a user visits from a desktop or laptop, they will get a larger, graphic-rich experience. When that same user visits from their smartphone, the page will be slimmed down so that it can be viewed without pinching and zooming. Responsive design is an important development because it bridges a gap between desktop and mobile. For informational sites, a responsive site can be quickly accessed, read, and the user can leave with the information BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN DESKTOP AND MOBILE WITH RESPONSIVE DESIGN

GAINING INSPIRATION FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR Health and human services orga- nizations should also look to the business-to-consumer world for inspi- ration and opportunity. When banks started offering mobile check deposit in their mobile apps, it opened up a whole new way of thinking about the smartphone camera. If the camera can

The feedback from Healthy Louisiana app users has validated that mobile is the channel of choice for Medicaid recipients, and other state health agencies have taken notice. Recent interest in the Healthy Louisiana app has been high, as other states look to expand their digital health offerings and provide the core offerings necessary to best serve their Medicaid populations.

See Mobile on page 35

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October 2017   Policy&Practice