HHS plans endeavor with Winona County

Goodhue County Health and Human Services will work together with Winona County to utilize an electronic document management system, the HHS Board unanimously determined Tuesday.

Back in December, board members decided they couldn’t enter into an endeavor with Winona County until there was a contract sitting before them, so staff has taken the past month to hammer out details.

A draft “statement of work” has been developed that will allow Goodhue County to use Winona County’s electronic document management system for its income maintenance unit.

The HHS Department will supply a net implementation cost of about $115,000 using designated reserves for the electronic document management system. The actual cost is nearly $231,000, but half of it is being covered by Federal Financial Participation.

Additionally, HHS will pay $11,210 annually for ongoing software maintenance and $35,911 for an annual hosting/software cost.

There are some parts of the contract that are unknown because a few other counties in the southeastern region — Wabasha, Houston and Fillmore — also are considering teaming up with Winona County.

“Is this something that if it gets too big, you start to see production failure?” Chair Dan Rechtzigel asked.

HHS Deputy Director Mike Zorn said Winona County hasn’t shown interest in creating a venture that involves many more than five counties. What Winona Couty is showing interest in, however, is working jointly with Goodhue County “rather than them just hosting our stuff,” HHS Director Nina Arneson said.

“The opportunity to be partners … it’s very attractive to us,” she added.

“Working with our neighbors is where the future is at,” Board member Ted Seifert said before moving to approve finalization and execution of the Statement of Work.

The system will initially be used solely for income maintenance documents, but expansion into other units is expected.

“Our hope is to roll it out for the whole department,” Arneson said.

Tags: goodbue county, news, government, health