About IMPACT

As a provider, you want to focus on offering care, not process and paperwork. HFS and other state agencies have been upgrading the state’s outdated Medicaid provider enrollment system to make being part of the program as efficient as possible – so you can keep your mission on the work you’re committed to.

This upgraded state-of-the art technology platform is called IMPACT. The “Illinois Medicaid Program Advanced Cloud Technology” system. It is designed to promote effective reporting, robust security, strong analytics and program integrity. 

The state’s legacy Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) system was implemented in the early 1980s. It was primarily built to support a fee-for-service (FFS) Medicaid program. Since then, HFS made many enhancements and modifications to the MMIS, but it increasingly became more difficult to maintain and modify, especially as technology and models of care evolved.

In addition, the federal CMS developed the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA), a national framework to support improved systems development and health care management.

With these realities and opportunities, HFS embarked on a comprehensive overhaul the MMIS to bring every aspect of the system up to date.

• Five agencies have been working together to develop the new MMIS to standardize, expedite and simplify processes for providers:
• Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services (HFS)
• Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA)
• Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS)
• Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS)
      • Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA)
      • Division of Family & Community Services, Bureau of Early Intervention (EI)
      • Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD)
      • Division of Mental Health (DMH)
      • Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS)
• UIC Department of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC)

Beginning in July, 2015, providers seeking to serve Medicaid customers were required to enroll and revalidate through the new IMPACT web portal.  Paper enrollment applications or updates were no longer accepted, and email became the primary method for provider communication.

Federal CMS requires providers to periodically revalidate.  We are kicking-off provider revalidation beginning in August 2024.  Providers will be notified via email when they need to take action.  Once providers receive notification to revalidate, they will have 90-days to complete the process. It is critical you take action when notified. Otherwise, you may not continue to receive payment for services you provide to our Medicaid customers.  Please do not ignore these notifications.

Other phases of IMPACT have included the launch of a new Pharmacy Benefits Management System (PBMS). We continue to collaborate with multiple vendor partners to ensure that the IMPACT system is effectively configured. While advancing towards full implementation of these technology milestones, HFS is working to make sure the new systems fully support program changes which advance our Quality Pillars and reduce the programming time needed to achieve future goals.