A Medical Device Daily

HMS (New York) reported that it had been awarded a contract by the State of Mississippi, Office of the Governor, Division of Medicaid (DOM) to provide various third-party recovery activities, including data matches with commercial and government insurers, commercial and Medicare recoveries, Medicare Buy-In services, and Medical Support Enforcement services.

The contract also includes pharmacy data matches to be transmitted to pharmacies at the point of sale.

"This win underscores HMS's leadership position in the third party liability industry, especially given that the State of Mississippi has never before procured these services," said Maria Perrin, HMS executive VP of Government Services. "It also demonstrates that states continue to adopt HMS's proven technology for real time pharmacy cost avoidance services."

With the addition of Mississippi, HMS has been awarded nine consecutive, competitively bid State Medicaid Third Party Recovery contracts.

HMS provides benefits coordination and program integrity services for government healthcare programs.

In other agreements and contracts news, the Premier (San Diego) healthcare alliance reported that three new hospital supplier agreements have been launched in its supplier diversity program aimed at increasing the number of small, diverse and regional enterprises doing business with members of the Premier alliance.

The SEEDS – Sourcing Education and Enrichment for Diverse and Small Suppliers –program is designed to ensure participants enter the group purchasing contracting process ready to succeed. SEEDS provides resources to minority-, women- and veteran-owned suppliers and small businesses through various business tools in order to enhance their contractual experience with Premier members. Likewise, the program introduces additional diverse and small business supplier options to Premier members.

New contract agreements were launched with:

• NK Medical Products (Clarence, New York), a small-business enterprise and a provider of pediatric care equipment, specializing in room furnishings.

• NEScientific (Waterbury, Connecticut), a small-business enterprise which provides FDA-approved reprocessing of single-use and opened but unused surgical devices. Through NEScientific, providers can expect to save 50% or more on their surgical products while eliminating tons of environmental waste annually.

• Strong Tool Company (Cleveland), a minority business enterprise and International Organization for Standardization certified company with a broad range of initiatives in e-commerce, customer service and inventory management.