Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC) 2017

The national Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (formerly the Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) Conference) is an annual meeting for State, Federal and private sector individuals to provide opportunities for the exchange of ideas related to Medicaid systems and heath policy affected by those systems.

The conference has been in existence since the nineteen-nineties and has recently grown to an attendance of approximately fourteen hundred attendees in 2015. States volunteer to host the event and work with a committee of Federal, State and private sector individuals to plan and execute the conference. Over the past twelve years, the conferences have been held in Providence, Rhode Island; San Diego, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Des Moines, Iowa; and St. Louis, Missouri. The 2017 Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland.

Past keynote speakers have included Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer, HHS; Dr. David Brailer and Dr. David Blumenthal former Directors of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC); and leading officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). The conference planning committee identifies the main subject tracks and priority themes for the agenda covering a wide range of topics critically important to Medicaid programs. These have included MMIS procurement, funding, and operations as well as health information technology (HIT), health information exchange (HIE), and health insurance exchanges (HIX).

Exhibitors at the conference include large and small companies involved in Medicaid systems. MESC 2016 set a record with over 100 exhibitor booths, and the 2017 MES Conference being held in Baltimore is expected to attract several new sponsors and exhibitors. In addition to exhibit space, various sponsorship opportunities are offered to exhibitors to provide them with access to potential customers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) participate and offer sessions on their current initiatives related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA; the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA); and to Innovation initiatives.

The 2017 MES Conference will span over five days. Monday morning is set aside as a travel day, with educational sessions (e.g., Modularity 101, TPL 101) being held in the afternoon; with MESC 2017 officially beginning on Tuesday, with business meetings and keynote sessions held throughout the day, and breakout sessions will be held Wednesday through Friday. 

The MESC is coordinated by the New England States Consortium Systems Organization (NESCSO). NESCSO is a non-profit corporation organized by the six New England Health and Human services agencies and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The mission of the organization is to foster communication and collaboration among members through information sharing and joint projects.