CenturyLink forges opioid tracking alliance

CenturyLink has partnered with Herndon, Va.-based analytics company EagleForce Associates to help government agencies adopt automation and monitoring technologies to track medications such as opioids.

The companies announce their exclusive sales and distribution arrangement in the midst of a nationwide increase in opioid addiction and overdose deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 22,000 deaths in 2015 from prescription opioid overdoses compared to 19,000 in 2014.

CenturyLink will offer EagleForce’s predictive analytics platform with real-time neural computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence functions to federal, state and local agencies in efforts to help health care personnel and providers identify potential cases of improper prescription usage and administration.

EagleForce built its technology with connections to every retail pharmacy in the U.S. for real-time benefit checks. The platform also works to identify relationships between health care providers, pharmacies and patients regarding medications and insurance benefits.

EagleForce's Attestation Center for Program Integrity is designed to identify beneficiaries of government health plans that include Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, Veterans Health Services, Indian Affairs, Bureau of Prisons and Children's Health Insurance Program.

For its part, CenturyLink will carry the data on its carrier-class network for pharmacists and healthcare providers to audit benefit processing systems and monitor the medication processing lifecycle.

EagleForce says its system complies with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute that restricts the use of pharmaceutical co-pay benefits by those enrolled on a government health care plan.

The companies aim to help health care providers comply with rules and regulations of agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Medication, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.

CenturyLink ranked 34^th on Washington Technology’s Top 100 list of federal government IT contractors in 2016 and is seeking regulatory approvals for its $34 billion purchase of Level 3 Communications in a deal intended to close in this year’s third quarter.