A Medical Device Daily

CSC (Falls Church, Virginia) reported that it has won a contract from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS; Raleigh) to replace the state's current Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) with a new healthcare administration system that will manage other state agency health services in addition to Medicaid.

The contract has a 7-1/2 year base period and a one-year option, bringing the estimated total contract value to $265 million.

CSC will develop a new enterprise MMIS solution for healthcare administration supporting multiple agencies within the NC DHHS. The solution will be enhanced by commercial off-the-shelf products designed for a multi-tiered, service-oriented architecture and aligned with the Medicaid IT Architecture (MITA) business enterprise.

CSC led development of MITA, creating the initial architectural framework, and continues to develop standards and enterprise objectives to ensure that clients' solutions meet Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requirements. The new system will also provide the department with an information technology platform that promotes efficiency and information sharing across all divisions and programs.

In addition, CSC will be the fiscal agent for the NC DHHS and its divisions, providing operational support to manage provider and recipient call centers, prior authorization reviews, claims processing, pharmacy operations, medical policy reviews and other administrative activities. CSC also will provide similar support to other health coverage programs offered by NC DHHS.

CSC provides technology-enabled solutions and services through three primary lines of business. These include Business Solutions & Services, Global Outsourcing Services and the North American Public Sector.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• MPR Associates (Alexandria, Virginia) and HUCKDesign (Bedminster, New Jersey) have entered into an alliance whereby the two companies will work together to pursue and execute opportunities regarding medical devices. By integrating HUCK's industrial design capability with MPR's product development skills and process, the alliance will provide complete prototype development to clients.

MPR and HUCK have had a longstanding business relationship in the medical device industry. Efforts have included MPR's engineering development of first-of-a-kind systems and devices and HUCK's design of the user interfaces for these projects, with particular focus on appearance and human factors.

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported a new agreement for stainless steel carts and equipment has been awarded to Lakeside Manufacturing (Milwaukee). Effective Feb. 1, the 36-month agreements are available to members of the Premier healthcare alliance.