Healthcare.gov’s Phoenix Project Moment…

Over the past two weeks the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had their Phoenix Project moment with the launch of Healthcare.gov.  From an outsider’s viewpoint, it appears we are at the point in the novel where the launch of the site and backend systems has been a failure. All the contractors are blaming the department responsible for the launch, which is CMS, which is under the authority of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  It appears that Sarah Moulton in The Phoenix Project is being played by Kathleen Sebelius in real life.  All we need now is to see a copy of the email sent by the Bill Masters from one of the IT contractors, recommending a one week delay in launching the site, followed by an email from Sarah accusing the IT teams of not being ready and demanding the lunch proceed on schedule.  I am not joking when I state that the whole healthcare.gov launch debacle is following the plot of The Phoenix Project.  I think all the people involved in healthcare.gov including the Congressional oversight committees should take the weekend off and all read The Phoenix Project.  Maybe they should take turns reading it to each other at some executive retreat in the Shenandoah Valley.

/wrk