ACS, Georgia Department of Community Health Agree in Principle with Tentative Terms of Settlement

ACS, a provider of business process and information technology outsourcing solutions, announced that the company and the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) have agreed in principle to a non-binding statement of terms from which they expect to conclude their negotiation of a settlement of certain disputes involving the company’s health claims processing contract with DCH. Settlement is subject to completion of a definitive settlement agreement.

Under the tentative settlement terms, DCH would reportedly pay ACS approximately $9 million of $13 million in outstanding system development invoices, with the remaining $4 million to be paid in stages as certain system functionality is delivered by ACS. DCH would escrow an additional $11.8 million pending final certification of the payment system by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the governing Federal regulatory agency.

In turn, ACS would pay DCH $10 million to compensate for system implementation delays and operational issues, which resulted in increased costs. Finally, ACS and DCH would reportedly agree that Phase II of the contract, which called for integration of a health claims payment system for state employees with the Medicaid payment system, and the membership enrollment management system, were terminated at the direction of DCH.

Tim Burgess, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health said, “The goal of both the Department of Community Health and ACS is to provide the best service we can to Georgia health providers and citizens. Settlement of the dispute would allow us to focus our joint efforts on that goal. A great deal of progress has been made recently. There are still many operational challenges ahead of us with respect to implementing Phase I, but we and ACS are committed to working closely with the provider community to meet those challenges.”

Harvey Braswell, group president of ACS State Healthcare Solutions added, “We look forward now to continue building a strong relationship with the Department of Community Health and working closely with the Department to ensure that Georgia health care providers and other constituents receive the best possible service in the country.”