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Teaching Case
ABSTRACT
The launch of HealthCare.gov, the website of the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare), was a major public relations disaster for the Obama administration. This case examines some of the factors that contributed to the failure of the launch and then details how Optum, an information technology service provider, considered the opportunity provided by the failure. The case provides examples of both good and bad IT management processes and poses questions for discussion related to the evaluation of risk associated with high profile projects.
Keywords: Teaching case, Health care, Project management, Outsourcing
1. INTRODUCTION
Andrew Slavitt, group executive vice president of Optum, had just hung-up the phone with Marilyn Tavenner. Marilyn was the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator. He had called Marilyn to offer his company's assistance in repairing the healthcare.gov, which had continued to unravel weeks after its disastrous rollout.
The troubled launch of the U.S. federal government's healthcare information exchange was a high-profile example of a failed outsourced IT project. The $400 million dollar endeavor was intended to be a one-stop, online shop for Americans seeking health insurance. It made headlines for its bugs and glitches. Even Jay Leno quipped: "I tried to log on to healthcare.gov today. I don't think I'm doing it right. I lost 300 bucks playing Texas Hold 'Em."
Aside from the launch being the brunt of late-night talk show hosts opening lines it was endorsed by the highest executive in the world, President Barak Obama, and was a key driver of his performance ratings. The project was afforded plenty of lead time and a relatively straightforward mandate, but deadline after deadline was missed on the multi-contractor project. From government agencies slow response times to address specification questions to last minute changes to the Healthcare.gov's primary features. The project was problematic to say the least.
As he sat in his office, Andrew wondered if he had made the best decision. He also knew his parent company; UnitedHealth Group (UHG) had been wary from the beginning of embracing the Healthcare.gov rollout which meant Optum might not be able to rely on any of UFIG's resources to assist should they need it. Or his efforts may even hinder UHG plans of expanding with...