State: Automated reporting could speed response, save lives
Apr. 30—CONCORD — State officials are recommending a Bethesda, Maryland, company receive a $1.4 million contract to create a more efficient incident management system, updating paper recordkeeping with automated reports to authorities.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver said the effort should speed up response time to incidents that occur in the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Division of Public Health Services and at New Hampshire Hospital.
"Without this funding to support the automation of administrative efforts currently managed manually in each area, the individuals served would continue to experience delays in services," Weaver wrote in letter to the Executive Council with Information Technology Commissioner Denis Goulet.
Both said the innovation is even more timely because it will reduce the burden on existing staff as the agencies deal with workforce shortage.
Miscommunication and failure to share information have been linked to high profile cases of children being injured, including Harmony Montgomery, whose father was convicted in the second-degree murder of the 5-year-old in 2019.
Goulet said the contract will leverage the work of nine contractors his department currently uses that will provide data a system that CoreSphere LLC would operate.
The firm was the only company to respond to a request for proposals.
"This process is time intensive and manual, requiring multiple data entry points that leave room for error in processing," Weaver said of current reporting systems.
The Executive Council is expected to vote on the contract at its business meeting Wednesday.
Federal grants would provide all the money for this contract that would run through June 30, 2025.
The Department of Health and Human Services has had a professional services contract with this company since 2021.
