HHS announces 'innovation fellows'

The Health and Human Services Department has tapped a group of corporations and entrepreneurs to help build new systems required by the Affordable Care Act.

HHS announced the first round of "external innovation fellows" Tuesday. The fellows, a mix of businesses and individuals, will help HHS build computer systems and other infrastructure, including systems to help implement President Obama's healthcare reform law.

HHS said two individual businessmen will help design systems for determining whether people are eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program — one of the most complex tasks facing the healthcare exchanges established under the ACA.

The businessmen will help HHS implement an electronic infrastructure for applying the Modified Gross Adjusted Income method for determining eligibility. The fellows on that project are Zachery Jiwa, a healthcare executive from Louisiana, and Chris Lunt, whom HHS described only as an "entrepreneur many times over" from California.

The new fellows, whose terms last six months to a year, will also help HHS implement new quality standards created by the ACA, the department said in a release.

In addition to individuals, the fellows include larger organizations such as Microsoft and the Louisiana health department.

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