Cúram Software was an Irish software company headquartered in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
[ with offices in ]Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The company produces Social Enterprise Management (SEM) software and offers consulting services, certification, and training. Their name is an Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
word for "Care and Protection". The company was founded in 1990.[
John Hearne, co-founded Cúram, which was initially called IT Design, in 1990 with Ronan Rooney, whom he worked with at Apple Computer. It was renamed to Cúram Software in 2003.
Their main software product was the Cúram Business Application Suite. This administrative software packages that allowed ]welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
and unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
agencies to manage the programs they administer.["Turnover at Dublin software firm surges to $30m"](_blank)
''The Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
'', Sunday, May 21, 2006: Gavin Daly. Accessed June 27, 2008. The company's products found government buyers in a number of U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
s, Canadian Provinces
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Guernsey, UK, etc. According to Federal Computer Week ''FCW'' (launched as ''Federal Computer Week'') is a news website that covers U.S. federal government technology and occasionally state, local, tribal and international governments. It is owned by GovExec.
''FCW'' was established in 1987 by Interna ...
, purchasers of the software, both in the US and internationally found that by integrating information technology systems, their government would save time and money; reduce waste, fraud and abuse; improve data accuracy; and provide better assistance to individuals and families in a holistic manner.
It was purchased by IBM in December 2011. The purchase of Cúram was part of the investments IBM is making to support the convergence of health and human services issues and gives healthcare organizations the ability to focus on the “whole individual” when addressing the causes of health and disease. The commitment is “unprecedented” in that it allows IBM customers to implement strategies that improve the health of the population as well as the patient experience while also managing the growth of costs. IBM's acquisition of Cúram brought enterprise capabilities into IBM's broader Smarter Care strategy. At the time of acquisition, IBM's software division capabilities expanded significantly when the almost 300 local Cúram staff were added to the 1,000 IBM staff already working on software as part of the Smarter Care offerings. These capabilities resulted in Cúram being chosen as a key component for New York State's Medicaid redesign program.
John Hearne and Ronan Rooney remained with IBM until early 2016, when IBM formed the new IBM Watson Health division, and Cúram software became a part of the offerings in government health and human services.
A system deployed by Cúram for Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
health insurance exchange
In the United States, health insurance marketplaces, also called health exchanges, are organizations in each state through which people can purchase health insurance. People can purchase health insurance that complies with the Patient Protection ...
MNsure
MNsure is the health insurance marketplace for the U.S. state of Minnesota. The exchange enables people and small businesses to purchase health insurance at federally subsidized rates. The current CEO is Libby Caulum.
Background
Health insurance ...
caused widely reported problems in 2013, including duplicate applications, delayed applications and applicants losing employment being left with no coverage at all for a month or more.
In March, 2014 MNsure's interim CEO Scott Leitz reported that things are working better due to 100 new staff members at its overloaded call center and fewer website errors. According to Leitz, “It’s stable and it is in much better shape than it was in the fall and it’s the best place for people to go.”
In 2014, an IBM/Cúram system deployed for the Ministry of Community and Social Services (Ontario)
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is the ministry in Ontario, Canada responsible for services to children and youth, social services such as welfare, the Ontario Disability Support Program, and community service programs to ad ...
welfare programme "Ontario Works" caused thousands of duplicate payments, while not paying many welfare recipients at all. Some were unable to pay for rent or electricity, in some cases leading to their eviction.
On Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) made a publication highlighting their serious concerns over Cúram implementation and the negative impact to their front-line workers.
In April, 2016 the Government of Ontario awarded IBM a $32M contract despite 18 months of problems associated with the software responsible for tracking Ontarians on social assistance.
Cúram software is still being used today in projects around the world. In Denmark and Catalonia, Spain, the healthcare sector is using Cúram intended to cut re-admissions and improve care. In Florida, the South Florida Behavioral Network
References
External links
Cúram Software home page
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080720083012/http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/268508 Cúram Software Utah state implementation featured in Government Technology magazine annual list of 'Doers, Dreamers and Drivers]
Story in Government Technology on use of Cúram products being used to simplify social services in IndianaOntario government, IBM smacked for bungled software projectGov. Hutchinson Tells DHS To Pause Over-Budget Medicaid Computer SystemSystems failure - Our view: We don't excuse state officials for oversight of the health exchange, but IBM also needs to be held to public account for its faulty softwareEXCLUSIVE: IBM wins $32M Ontario government contract despite delivering problem-riddled softwareSAMS: More Than A "Glitch"
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Software companies of Ireland