A U.S. city identified a critical need for a high-speed wireless network that provided interoperable data communications across city agencies.

NYSTEC helped evaluate two vendor solutions, assisted with recommendations and planning, helped manage the network buildout, and provided quality assurance over implementation. We assisted with network design, planning, testing, and inspections—providing risk assessment, risk mitigation, criteria development, and project monitoring.

The full-coverage, high-speed wireless network is one of the most advanced municipal networks of its kind, enabling the 24×7 transmission of government data in real time throughout the city. First responders and other municipal employees have mobile access to multiple databases, maps, automatic vehicle location, and streaming video. The broadband network has helped make the city a safer place while improving the delivery of government services to citizens.

As part of President Obama’s economic stimulus package, an incentive program was established to move Medicaid providers from paper-based recordkeeping and tracking systems to interconnected electronic systems. Through the program, providers qualify for incentive payments if they show they are “meaningfully using” electronic health record technology and meeting specific measurement thresholds. The federal government assumed program funding responsibilities—while the states were appointed the massive undertaking of managing the program.

NYSTEC helped plan, govern, and coordinate multiple activities for the program statewide. Our responsibilities included defining program strategies, collaborating with stakeholders to plan and execute the program, defining business processes and system requirements, managing the support staff, conducting payee assessments, and providing outreach and support to healthcare providers enrolled in the program.

As of May 2016, more than 24,000 providers in the state signed up for the program, which has already spawned numerous tangible benefits. The coordination of patient care across providers is much more efficient. Information about patients is more accurate, complete, and current. The secure sharing of electronic information has facilitated more effective patient diagnoses while reducing medical errors. The program has lowered costs through decreased paperwork and reduced duplication of testing. Most important, the program is yielding better treatment and a healthier population.

A major New York State agency sought a better means for managing the massive stores of information it received, generated, and retained.

NYSTEC developed a Request for Proposals for a document management system, for which we elicited, managed, analyzed, and communicated system requirements. This effort resulted in a detailed set of requirements as well as a source selection plan. After the vendor was selected, we assisted with project management, requirements management, risk management, design reviews, system testing, acceptance testing, and security testing.

The agency met its broad goal to develop and deploy a business system to collect, organize, integrate, make available, distribute, and preserve its organizational knowledge and documents over time and as organizational changes occur—while making the filing and information-retrieval processes as efficient and streamlined as possible. It now utilizes a high-volume document management system that is secure and efficient while meeting all agency requirements and state regulations.