Medicare Transaction System: Serious Managerial and Technical Weaknesses Threaten Modernization

GAO discussed the status and prognosis for success of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) Medicare Transaction System (MTS), focusing on HCFA's: (1) actions to date in its development of a system that can handle Medicare claims processing into the next century; (2) management of the interim claims-processing environment in which it must operate until conversion to MTS or another system has been completed; (3) managing the development of MTS as an investment; and (4) use of sound systems development practices.