Emdeon, a provider of healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions, has been awarded a subcontract from CSC to provide IT services on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense Pharmacy Operations Directorate for the Pharmacy Data Transaction Service (PDTS).
The PDTS is a comprehensive, patient-centric data repository of prescription drug history that supports military healthcare operations. In addition to continuing to serve as the exclusive PDTS subcontractor to CSC, Emdeon will also develop expanded services that include interfaces to immunization tracking and lab systems under the extended subcontract. The renewed contract and subcontract are scheduled to run for an additional 51 month term.
"We are excited to continue our solid relationship and long history of providing quality, innovative pharmacy solutions to the Military Health System," said George Lazenby, Emdeon's CEO.
The DoD provides prescription drug benefits to all active duty and retired U.S. Armed Forces personnel and their eligible dependents, representing a total of more than nine million beneficiaries worldwide. In 1999, the initial PDTS contract was awarded to CSC, with Emdeon as the exclusive subcontractor providing the technical and functional expertise, including the design, implementation, maintenance and day-to-day operation of the PDTS. The prime contract along with Emdeon's subcontract was renewed in 2005 and was awarded again to CSC and Emdeon on Sept.1, 2010.
The PDTS has been recognized as one of the DoD's most successful systems. In 2002, the PDTS was a finalist for the President's Quality Award and was also a semi-finalist for Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government's "Innovations in American Government" award, a program that recognizes imaginative and effective government responses to urgent social and economic challenges.
"The Pharmacy Data Transaction Service has proven itself many times over to be a vital tool for the Military Health System – allowing the Department of Defense to minimize cost, prevent fraud, provide for patient safety, monitor patient usage and provider prescribing patterns and most importantly, improve patient care," said James W. Sheaffer, president of CSC's North American Public Sector. "This service rapidly processes millions of dispensing transactions annually to support the prescription needs of more than 9 million military beneficiaries."
