Sparring between Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) and the Colorado Health Benefit Exchange Board (COHBE) prompted an outside analyst to recommend a third party to triage and manage the project.

Federal grants that Colorado received to launch its exchange require outside analysts to conduct independent reviews. According to a new report from outside analysts at First Data, squabbling between state and exchange managers over IT projects and other policy decisions has been slowing down progress on the exchange.Therefore, a mediator from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation now will come to Colorado to help managers get the giant multi-million dollar project off the ground on time by October 1st when it’s slated to open to consumers.

Yen Pham, an analyst from First Data stated, “A number of policy decisions need to be resolved by both COHBE and HCPF; they include the approach to accommodate referrals, eligibility mixed households and life change events.” Read more in the Colorado blog, Health Policy Solutions.