Thursday April 10 11:39 AM EDT
Health Care Financing Administration Selects EDS
for National Medicare System
PLANO, Texas, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has selected EDS to implement and maintain the national standard Medicare Part B (physician services) claims processing software system for use by all Medicare Part B carriers. EDS' Multi-Carrier System (MCS) will become the interim software
used prior to the availability of the Medicare Transaction System.
The MCS system is used by eight carriers that process Medicare Part B claims for beneficiaries in 17 states, encompassing one-third of the Medicare Part B claims processing volume. EDS will convert all Medicare Part B carriers to the MCS system by the end of 1998. Currently, there are 30 carriers processing varying numbers of
claims.
HCFA is consolidating the six claims processing systems used by Medicare Part B carriers to a single system, with similar efforts being undertaken for Part A processing (hospital services) and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) claims processing. This effort is part of HCFA's continued drive to increase standardization in the current
Medicare environment, contributing to overall operational and programmatic benefits including cost reduction.
"Our goal is to assist HCFA in the move to a standardized operating environment, thus cultivating increased efficiencies," said Dave Bryan, EDS vice president for the senior market. "The move to standardization is critical in light of the increasing complexity
within Medicare, exemplified by the exploding Medicare population growth, the increasing number of benefit alternatives, reduced administrative budgets and the difficulties in implementing consistent changes to the current number of systems."
EDS offers the health care market insight gained supporting a customer base that serves 115 million U.S. residents. More than 6,000 EDS employees serve the health care industry, offering such services as systems integration, decision support, electronic commerce and Internet services.
EDS is a leader in the global information services industry. The company's approximately 100,000 employees specialize in applying a range of ideas and technologies to help business and government customers improve their economics, products, services and relationships. EDS, which serves customers in 42 countries,
reported revenues of $14.4 billion in 1996. The company is independent and publicly owned, and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. EDS can be visited via the Internet at eds.com. SOURCE Electronic Data Systems
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