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Board ratifies Medi‑Cal outreach MOU with Maximus after public cybersecurity questions
Summary
Supervisors unanimously ratified a nonfinancial MOU with Maximus Inc. to support Medi‑Cal outreach and beneficiary contact; a public commenter cited past data breaches and urged caution. County IT and SSA officials said Maximus will not access county systems directly and staff will follow up.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously ratified a nonfinancial memorandum of understanding with Maximus Inc. on Aug. 13 that will allow the contractor to receive limited data sharing to contact Medi‑Cal beneficiaries about enrollment and outreach.
During public comment, a speaker who identified herself as Cheryl urged the board to scrutinize Maximus because of recent large data breaches in federal programs and the contractor’s size and executive compensation. "Their net worth is $5.28 billion... The CEO is making $7.3 million per year. The Medicare system has been hacked numerous times," she said.
County CIO Casey Rostenberg said the county requires outside parties that interface with county systems to be authorized or use county‑provided equipment, and offered to follow up on the specific concerns raised. Veronica Rodriguez, chief deputy director with the Social Services Agency, told the board Maximus would not have access to the county’s internal systems in this arrangement; the MOU primarily enables limited data sharing for outreach as a contracted provider to the state Department of Health Care Services.
The item passed with no public opposition recorded; the board’s procedural record shows staff will follow up with more detailed information on system access and security arrangements in response to the public comment.
Outcome: Approved unanimously. Staff committed to follow up on IT and data‑access details raised during public comment.
