Our Work

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | Common Working File (CWF)

Client Challenge

CMS wanted support for the CWF system, including maintenance, production support, developmental enhancements, and special projects as required by CMS. This includes the task order for the dental work in MPSM. The CWF system is a significant component of the Medicare claims processing function within CMS. CMS contracts with Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to process claims for care provided under the program, with the MACs performing claims processing and benefit payment functions for institutional providers & physicians, and other practitioners. Additionally, designated Durable Medical Equipment (DME) MACs have exclusive responsibility for processing claims for medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies in specified geographic regions of the United States. Today, CMS provides software for three base claims processing systems for the MACs to use for claims adjudication Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS), for institutional Part A and B services, Multi-Carrier System (MCS), for physician and other practitioner services, and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Claims Processing System for DMEPOS services.

Oddball Solution

Oddball’s expertise in agile development and program management has been tapped to transform processes, tools, resources, and technology of the Common Working File (CWF) system. Oddball is tasked with implementing modern development practices, increasing the use of Cloud-based solutions, and providing more frequent releases using SAFe Agile and CI/CD. Oddball delivered high-quality software, considering industry-standard quality factors such as correctness, reliability, efficiency, integrity, usability, maintainability, flexibility, testability, portability, reusability, and interoperability.

Client Results

One large development team has evolved into four scrum teams using ceremonies, providing new ways of solutioning to provide system capabilities with flexible release dates and production-ready solutions. This was all achieved while maintaining the historical data, business rules, and functions associated with the legacy system. We are working closely with CMS to push transformation on our project, understanding stakeholders through user personas, HCD, and integrating CI/CD.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | Medicare Authenticated Experience (MAX)

Client Challenge

The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) wanted Oddball to assist CMS with the design and implementation of digital services for CMS websites, their systems, tools, components, and applications. Oddball is responsible for the redesign and modernization of the authenticated or “logged-in” experience for eMedicare sites by creating new digital products or services that offer the same features and capabilities as in the legacy MyMedicare.gov website.

Oddball Solution

As the prime contractor, Oddball is leading the effort to provide seamless online healthcare customer experience to meet the growing expectations and needs of tech-savy Medicare beneficiaries. Oddball is applying human-centered design (HCD), agile development, product management and DevSecOps best practices to create, enhance and deliver Medicare authenticated experience digital products that optimize Medicare beneficiaries’ consumer experience.

Client Results

MAX has delivered scalable solutions, integrated designs, and facilitated collaboration across multiple teams in the CMS space that has fostered support from numerous stakeholders. Conducting deep dives on pain points, mapping out the process and owning the discussion has allowed MAX to drive the needle of innovation and increase the vision for what is possible. Through our dedication to transparency, concise communication, and commitment to quality we have gained stakeholder confidence with a successful production deployment in the near future.

Department of Veterans Affairs | Veteran Services Platform

Client Challenge

VA Digital Services (DSVA) wanted a modern devops infrastructure – with the necessary documentation, tools, and support – to build successful digital products that fit seamlessly into the VA.gov experience where millions of Veterans come each month to manage their benefits.

Oddball Solution

Oddball leads a team of digital services partners providing VA with product and delivery management, software development, user research, content management, DevOps, data analytics, and platform operations and management. Our Operations and Improvement Group provides security, usability, and performance. Our Experience Group provides product research, design, engineering, and Authority to Operate support, as well as cross-platform user experience analytics and application performance monitoring.

Client Results

Within the first few months, the Oddball team and our DSVA partners have delivered design patterns, code libraries, and a sample app for VA to prototype, test with users, measure, iterate, and deploy new digital tools that improve Veterans’ lives.

Department of Veterans Affairs | Lighthouse

Client Challenge

The VA Office of Information Technology (OIT) launched efforts to build and operate a cohesive set of modern APIs to make VA digital services easier to use and more reliable as a set of Veteran-facing services.

Oddball Solution

Oddball provided program management, product management, software engineering, user experience research and design, and outreach support to both internal (VA) customers and third-party external consumers.

Client Result

Oddball helped VA deliver a new, web-based portal and self-service functionality, enabling users to access a growing set of public-facing APIs for benefits, VA facilities, Veteran verification, and health services. Through the Benefits Intake API, Veterans’ claims can now be submitted electronically to VA through a web-based claims management system that results in a shorter turnaround time from receipt to processing. This API enables over 10,000 Veteran benefit requests per month. Oddball is especially proud that VA Lighthouse received the 2019 FedHealthIT Innovation award for advancements in health technology.

Department of Veterans Affairs | VA.gov

Client Challenge

Veterans seeking VA information online had to navigate multiple websites, sometimes with multiple usernames and passwords, creating a frustrating experience for Veterans trying to access simple things such as health care options and tracking prescriptions.

Oddball Solution

We helped create cloud infrastructure to support API consolidation, eliminated duplicative websites, and created a Veteran-facing dashboard that, with one click, provides their unique information along with seamless access to such VA services as benefits, disability claims, and prescription refills.

Client Results

We developed the APIs that provide a consolidated experience for Veterans to apply for benefits they’ve earned. We are thrilled that VA.gov has since grown to 1M registered users accessing ~20 different services.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | Healthcare.gov

Client Challenge

HHS awarded Web Development Services (WDS) as a first-of-its-kind effort to capture the entirety of work needed to develop and iterate on a complex digital marketplace using an agile development process. Oddball joined this contract in 2017 and has supported both the team that is in charge of devops, as well as the team in charge of the authentication service.

Oddball Solution

We built APIs to power these consumer-facing applications as well as modern tooling that includes scripted, automated deployment processes and an authentication service for unified login across CMS

Client Results

By implementing DevOps best practices, we were able to deliver faster deployments and increased usage of autoscaling based on website traffic. We worked closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to build a scalable universal authentication service that allows external providers to integrate more easily. During open enrollment, we ensured successful operations of a vital public system, handling more than 15M users and 6M successful submissions and enrollments with zero downtime.

DOD | Wing Feedback Mobile App

DOD | JOCAS

Client Challenge

The United States Air Force (USAF) wants to design, implement, and manage its transition to a more agile-driven and dynamic software production and delivery process. The overall goal is to modernize applications, technology stacks, and align people, processes, and technology to reflect this modern Cloud Native, Agile/DevSecOps approach to software development and deployment.

Oddball Solution

We use the “strangler” design pattern to develop an initial MVP that replaces the time entry portion of the Joint cost accounting system (JOCAS). The strangler pattern is an industry best practice that allows our engineers to refactor the code while minimizing disruption to the current user experience. Long term, we plan on replacing the entire legacy system that is heavily reliant on antiquated enterprise applications, duplicate deployments of the system, on-premise infrastructure, and provides a suboptimal user experience.

Client Results

We are working within the Air Force’s new Bespin-AFIMSC environment alongside and with airmen to develop a modern and sustainable Air Force cost accounting system using industry best practices. The new JOCAS product will provide an easy way to report on reimbursable costs at a glance and allow for continuous service improvement.