ACS to manage Florida child health program

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. will administer Florida's child health insurance program through a five-year, $87.3 million contract.

Under the contract, ACS of Dallas will handle IT development and third-party administration for the state's CHIP program known as FloridaKidCare. The program offers health care to children who are not eligible for Medicaid.

The company will process applications for eligibility, collect premiums from eligible members, enroll members into appropriate health plans and operate a call center to assist program participants.

The KidCare program consists of MediKids, Healthy Kids and Children's Medical Services for kids with special health care needs. The programs covers everything from doctor visits and dental checkups to immunizations and hospitalization.

The company currently administers CHIP programs in Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as Medicaid and Medicare programs in more than a half dozen states.

ACS, a provider of IT and business processing outsourcing services, has 58,000 employees and had annual sales of $5.3 billion in fiscal 2006. The company ranks No. 48 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.