[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

The Delaware Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance (DMMA) has signed a $50 million agreement for HP to continue providing Medicaid fiscal-agent services for three years.

Under terms of the contract, HP will continue managing the state’s Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS), which was certified by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2003 as the first state Medicaid system to comply with the landmark Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HP also will continue providing a wide range of Medicaid services, including pharmacy and medical claims processing, eligibility verification, call-center support and administration of the state’s drug rebate program.

The agreement, which takes effect July 1 and includes two one-year extension options, continues a relationship that dates to 1989. HP currently processes more than 17 million claims a year for more than 8,800 healthcare providers across the state.

Delaware was among the first states to join the HP-designed Medical Assistance Provider Incentive Repository (MAPIR), which earlier this year received the National Governors Association’s 6th Annual Public-Private Partnership Award. The 13-state collaborative has tracked more than $400 million in incentives to hospitals, physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other eligible providers.

HP is among the nation’s largest provider of Medicaid process-management services, supporting MMIS in 21 states. HP performs 2.4 billion healthcare transactions annually, including 1 billion healthcare claims.