Leadership crisis at DHHS a persistent liability

Published January 21, 2014

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, January 20, 2014.

A group representing more than 12,500 medical professionals calls the system a "poorly tested, defective and very expensive software product."

But the N.C. Medical Society isn't heaping contempt on the botched roll-out of Obamacare. Rather it is backing doctors and clinics who have filed a class-action lawsuit over the state's dysfunctional NCTracks system for online handling of Medicaid claims and payments.

Lawyers say state software has potentially shortchanged up to 70,000 medical providers since its July 1 launch, by up to $500 million.

The courts will get to wrangle over the merits of the suit, but it is the latest black eye for a Department of Health and Human Services that has faced one mess after another during the first year of Gov. Pat McCrory's administration.

Chief Information Officer Joe Cooper oversees NCTracks and is responsible for addressing the public's concerns. How's he doing? Well, NCTracks doesn't work correctly, but he says it's "outperforming" the previous system.

McCrory needs to stop the hemorrhaging under Secretary Aldona Wos and her team, so his administration's credibility doesn't bleed out entirely.

Surgically remove ineffective management. Transplant a better-qualified team that can embrace responsibility and transparency. Then focus on correcting problems with NCTracks, quickly and completely.