PITTSBURGH, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Tuesday that Highmark Medicare Services will serve as the Medicare Part A fiscal intermediary for the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Operations will be transitioned to Highmark by Sept. 30, with no interruption of service to providers and beneficiaries. As part of this transition, Highmark plans to locate operations in Timonium, MD, and offer employment to many current CareFirst employees.
“Serving as Medicare’s fiscal intermediary for hospitals and skilled nursing facilities in these two important regions will complement our existing role with this critical government program and allow us to grow our longtime relationship with CMS,” said Patrick Kiley, Senior Vice President of Highmark Medicare Services, the government business unit within Highmark established to manage Medicare Part A and Part B contracts.
Highmark has been engaged with the Medicare program since 1966, acting as both a Part A fiscal intermediary for health care facilities and a Part B carrier for health care professionals. The company’s existing Part A region includes Pennsylvania, along with skilled nursing facility chains in 19 states and rural health clinics in 12 states and the Virgin Islands. Highmark also serves as the Part B carrier for Pennsylvania.
Highmark was awarded the Part A Medicare work for Maryland and the District of Columbia based on the results of a bidding process conducted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) among its member plans. BCBSA, the prime Blues Medicare Part A contractor, conducted the competition to identify a replacement for CareFirst of Maryland Inc., after it announced it was withdrawing from the Medicare fee-for-service business.
Highmark is the nation’s ninth largest Medicare Part A intermediary with more than 1,500 facility providers. Last year, the company processed more than 7.6 million Part A claims and paid more than $6 billion in Medicare benefits. As a Part B carrier, the company processed more than 40 million claims for Pennsylvanians with Medicare and paid more than $3 billion in benefits.
Highmark
CONTACT: Aaron Billger, +1-412-544-7826, [email protected], orLeilyn Perri, +1-717-302-4243, [email protected], both of Highmark
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