New Program Offers Millions in Potential Savings
DALLAS, March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- State Medicaid programs can
potentially save millions of dollars annually through an innovative
initiative of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS) and RxHub,
LLC. The proprietary program helps ACS' healthcare clients avoid costly,
manual recovery of drug claims from commercial insurers.
The new program enables pharmacies to immediately identify pharmacy
benefit coverage at the point-of-sale. This eliminates the costly,
inefficient "pay and chase" programs state Medicaid agencies currently use
to recover monies when other insurance coverage is discovered.
"The potential savings identified through this new program is another
way in which ACS provides innovative technology to our state partners to
help reduce the costs of administering their Medicaid programs," said
Christopher T. Deelsnyder, ACS senior vice president and managing director,
Government Healthcare Solutions.
Federal law requires that commercial insurers pay before Medicaid pays
on claims of beneficiaries who are also covered by Medicaid. In today's
paper-based world, it is difficult to determine if Medicaid beneficiaries
also have commercial insurance coverage when they receive care.
Once state Medicaid agencies have determined that a potentially liable
third party exists, they must either try to avoid those costs or resort to
"pay and chase," in which the state agencies pay beneficiaries' medical
bills and then attempt to recover whatever portion of the claims are owed
by commercial insurers. This complex process often takes months and yields
a very small percentage of the millions of dollars due to the states each
year.
The new program enables the pharmacist to check benefit coverage at the
point-of-sale using ACS' proprietary SmartPA(SM) prior authorization
solution. This is done in real time while the prescription is being
processed by systematically checking St. Paul, Minn.-based RxHub's Master
Patient Index (MPI). It permits almost instantaneous identification of any
coverage by commercial insurers and allows pharmacies to bill them instead
of Medicaid. The RxHub MPI contains access to more than 200 million patient
records. The program was launched in February 2008.
"This program could eventually eliminate the need for 'pay and chase'
pharmacy recovery programs in all state Medicaid programs," said J.P.
Little, chief operating officer of RxHub, LLC.
RxHub (http://www.rxhub.net) provides authorized clinicians with secure
access to real-time, patient specific prescription information for more
than 200 million Americans within the United States. Prescription
eligibility, formulary and benefits, and medication history information is
provided -- for consenting patients -- to authorized clinicians at the
point of care. This real-time decision support information is used by
clinicians to effectively manage the patient's use of medications and
enables the most clinically appropriate and cost effective medication
therapy to be electronically prescribed for the patient. RxHub partners
with prescription payers, technology providers, and pharmacy networks to
improve patient safety, increase workflow efficiency and reduce the overall
cost of health care delivery.
ACS is a national leader in state healthcare program administration,
offering a full spectrum of systems and complementary services through an
integrated solution, from care management solutions and child health
programs to pharmacy benefits management and traditional Medicaid fiscal
agent services. ACS supports more than 23 million program recipients and
processes nearly 550 million Medicaid healthcare claims annually,
representing close to $50 billion in provider payments. As the nation's
largest government program pharmacy benefits administrator, ACS serves 28
states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Labor with drug
expenditures totaling more than $13 billion.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 62,000 people supporting client
operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process
outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial
and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at
http://www.acs-inc.com.
The statements in this news release that do not directly relate to
historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside
the Company's control. As such, no assurance can be given that the actual
events and results will not be materially different than the anticipated
results described in the forward-looking statements. Factors could cause
actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements.
For a description of these factors, see the Company's prior filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent filing.
ACS disclaims any intention or obligation to revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future event, or
otherwise.
SOURCE Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.acs-inc.com
http://www.rxhub.net
CONTACT:
investor relations, Jon Puckett, Vice
President, Investor Relations, +1-214-841-8281,
jon.puckett@acs-inc.com, or media, Andy Wilson, Director,
Corporate Communications, +1-214-841-8004,
andy.wilson@acs-inc.com, both of Affiliated Computer Services,
Inc.
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