Health and Welfare seeks vehicle replacements, MMIS hires and licensing transfer exemption to fund contract surveyors

At the Jan. 13 Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee hearing, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare requested one-time capital funding to replace vehicles and upgrade IT hardware, provided an update on hiring for the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) project and asked for an exemption that would permit the Division of Licensing and Certification to transfer personnel- cost dollars to operating expenditures.

Legislative analyst Alex Williamson said the department requested $2.8 million in replacement items that included $1.8 million to replace 60 vehicles, $384,000 for visitation room upgrades and roughly $648,000 for office remodels and furniture. She said the governor recommended funding those replacement items as requested and that the agency had also requested $1.8 million in hardware replacement and other IT requests; the governor recommended most IT items except a requested cloud server capacity line that was zeroed out after the…