Mississippi Division of Medicaid

As Mississippi modernized its digital infrastructure, the state deliberately moved away from homegrown systems toward best-of-breed commercial technologies. Migrating external connectivity to their modern integration engine prompted a broader re-evaluation of how identity was managed across eligibility and service delivery programs.

Medicaid, along with other assistance programs and public health data, presents unique identity challenges. Beneficiaries may move often, change phone numbers, or lack consistent access to digital identifiers, while agencies must ensure a very high level of confidence when managing protected health information. Traditional probabilistic and deterministic matching methods often struggle in these situations.

These pressures grew stronger with the release of the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule (CMS-9115-F), which mandates Medicaid agencies to provide health information through APIs so beneficiaries can access their data via third-party applications. Ensuring accurate identity and resolution verification became essential for compliance, security, and maintaining public trust.

Mississippi selected Verato as the identity foundation for its Medicaid modernization, including the statewide beneficiary portal, to support Medicaid and other programs such as energy assistance and SNAP. Verato’s identity solutions are powered by Verato Referential Matching®, the industry’s most accurate patient-matching algorithm. Verato’s extensive U.S. population data and experience working with state government and payer organizations positioned it to handle the realities of beneficiary data.

Mississippi connected systems across agencies without increasing operational complexity by replacing legacy MPIs, along with other fragmented and homegrown identity methods, with Verato’s mature, enterprise-wide, off-the-shelf solution. Verato’s reliability and the support of experienced specialists gave the state confidence as it navigated a multi-vendor interoperability environment.

Beneficiaries should have easy and secure access to their health information through the apps they use. As digital convenience becomes more expected, this trustworthiness is crucial for adoption.