EDS Wins $64 Million Extension on Calif. Contract

Electronic Data Systems Corp. won an 18-month, $64 million contract extension to support California's Healthy Families Program, the company announced June 29.

With an additional one-year option, the contract is potentially worth $118 million, said EDS of Plano, Texas. EDS has held this contract for four years.

As part of the new contract, EDS will implement a Web-based enrollment application developed by the California HealthCare Foundation. The program will allow families to enroll eligible children online for either Healthy Families or California's Medicaid program.

EDS will provide support to new child and adult applicants as well as to the nearly 450,000 children already in the program. Once the new applicants are accepted, enrollment is expected to double, EDS said.

Healthy Families, which is California's Children's Health Insurance Program, is the nation's largest program of its kind, providing medical insurance for children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.

EDS processes 147 million health care transactions for child beneficiaries each year, and this number is expected to increase with additional enrollment of children and adults.

EDS reviews applications, enrolls eligible children and operates a call center to assist Californians seeking Healthy Families information and assistance.

The state estimates the program will grow to 900,000 members under the adult expansion, said Dick Callahan, EDS' client executive. The company starts serving adult applicants in October.

EDS' other health care accounts in California include Medicaid, Blue Shield of California and Medicare.

The company also supports a Children's Health Insurance Program in Delaware and provides services to CHIP populations through expanded Medicaid services in states such as Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana and New Hampshire, said Laura Wooten, an EDS spokeswoman.