JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—First Coast Service Options (FCSO) announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded the company a new Medicare contract. The contract will involve administration of the fee-for-service Medicare program in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for one year with four option years available. FCSO, one of the nation’s largest fee-for-service Medicare administrators, has served as Florida’s primary Medicare administrator since the inception of the program in 1966. As a result of legislation passed in 2003, however, the company had to compete for the first time to retain the contract that includes Florida. FCSO submitted a proposal for this scope of work in November 2007 following the release of CMS’ Request for Proposals.
“This award enables FCSO to maintain its long-standing relationships with Medicare beneficiaries and providers in Florida,” said Curtis Lord, FCSO vice chairman. “With only fifteen such contracts to be awarded nationwide, this award also demonstrates the confidence that CMS has in FCSO to serve as one of the agency’s key Medicare administrators.”
The new contract is for one of the largest administrative jurisdictions, and will serve about 9 percent of the nation’s traditional Medicare beneficiaries. “Being awarded this work speaks well of FCSO’s ability to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse Medicare population and is a tribute to all of our associates,” said Sandy Coston, FCSO CEO and president. “We are also pleased to be able to expand our Medicare operations into Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.“ Triple-S, Inc., a San Juan, Puerto Rico based company with decades of Medicare program experience, will provide support to FCSO for this business expansion.
CSO contracts with CMS to provide quality administrative services throughout the United States to Medicare beneficiaries and the health care providers who care for them. Services include claims processing, customer service, appeals adjudication, education and outreach activities and functions that help ensure the integrity of Medicare program payments. FCSO has over 1,100 staff at the company’s headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla., and in field offices in Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Meriden, Conn. and Camarillo, Calif. For more information concerning FCSO, please see its Web site at www.fcso.com.