IT glitch forces Medibank delay

Health insurer blames data migration problems for its inability send out tax statements on time.

A Medibank Private office is seen in Sydney, Thursday, June 16, 2016. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Health insurer Medibank has blamed a bungle in its ongoing IT upgrade for its inability to provide tax statements to its customers on time.

Company chief executive Craig Drummond has apologised to customers, saying that a hitch in the customer data migration process has led to delays. Customers of its ahm (Australian Health Management) subsidiary have not been affected by the IT problem.

“I sincerely apologise to our customers. It is important for customers to know that their personal data has not been compromised,” Mr Drummond said.

The “reporting issue”, that’s holding back Medibank bank from issuing the annual tax statements by July 15, has cropped up just as the health insurer edges closer to the finish line of its $150 million core systems upgrade.

The company began the project — codenamed Project Delphi- almost five years ago, recruiting the services of SAP and IBM to help it transform its claims processing systems and decommission legacy systems.

Medibank is also upgrading its digital sales and services systems, and ¬improve data warehouse and business intelligence systems.