Palmetto to process Medicare claims

Palmetto GBA has won a five year, $400 million contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to process Medicare claims and perform related duties for the states of California, Hawaii and Nevada and the territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems said Palmetto was chosen as the Medicare Administrative Contractor for MAC Jurisdiction 1 because the company offered the best overall value to the government in terms of cost and technical capability.

Palmetto will begin implementation activities immediately and will assume full responsibility for MAC Jurisdiction 1 claims no later than June 2008.

To handle the work, Palmetto and its two largest subcontractors, TrailBlazer Health Enterprises LLC and First Coast Service Options Inc., will add about 750 full-time jobs, the majority of them at Palmetto's headquarters in Columbia, S.C.

Palmetto is a wholly owned subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and a provider of technical and administrative services to the federal government.

TrailBlazer Health Enterprises LLC of Dallas also is a wholly owned subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and a provider of diversified services to Medicare and other government programs.

First Coast Service Options of Jacksonville, Fla., a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, provides Medicare administrative services to more than 3 million beneficiaries and the health care providers in Florida and Connecticut.