NCI's Unit Wins $76 Million CMS Program Integrity Task Contract

NCI, Inc. NCIT revealed Thursday that its fully-owned unit, AdvanceMed, has been granted the first task order under the $2.5 billion Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity Unified Program Integrity Contractor (UPIC) contract. According to the company, the first task order is worth about $76.8 million. This included a 12-month base period with four more option periods.

NCI said the UPIC IDIQ integrates the functions of the former Zone Program Integrity Contractor (ZPIC), Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC) and Medicaid Integrity Contractor (MIC) contracts into one contract with five jurisdictions.

The company stated the contract would enable it perform fraud, waste and abuse (FWA) detection and prevention activities for Medicare, as well as Medicaid claims processed within the Midwestern Jurisdiction. It covers a number of states that included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.

President and CEO, Brian Clark, said, "Combining the work of multiple contracts into the UPIC IDIQ will enable NCI to draw on its more than 17 years of experience with CMS and better support the agency in meeting its mission requirements through coordinated audits, investigations and data analyses while reducing the burden on providers. CMS anticipates this integrated and data-driven approach will lay the groundwork for fostering further program integrity coordination with other private and government payers across the entire health care industry."

However, the contract isn't reflected in the stock price on Thursday as it traded down by $1.54 or 10.94 percent at $12.54.