Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — HMS, a New York-based firm that specializes in cost control and dollar recoveries for government health programs, has been awarded a new contract by the Kansas Health Policy Authority to provide Medicaid subrogation and estate recovery services.

The contract extends through June 30, 2012 with two additional one-year renewal options.

HMS officials said the firm has been providing the services to the agency since 2007, during which time it has recovered more than $15 million.

The firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HMS Holdings Corp., essentially chases third-party dollars to reimburse for medical expenses or services that have been paid for by Medicaid.

For example, a person on Medicaid is struck by a car driven by a person with private insurance. Medicaid might pay for the person's immediate treatments resulting from the accident though the driver or the driver's insurer is held ultimately responsible for those costs.

HMS specializes in ferreting out those types of cases and collecting the money from the responsible parties.

“Estate recovery and subrogation are important elements of the Kansas Medicaid program that are mandated by federal regulations in order to help control the cost of Medicaid," said Peter Hancock, a spokesman for the health policy authority. "It’s helpful to us when we can contract out with a firm that already has experienced staff and expertise in a highly-specialized area like this. We selected HMS after going through a competitive bid process because they showed the ability to handle this project and provide the greatest overall return for the state.”

According to HMS, the firm has clients in more than 40 states.

Last week it announced similar contracts with the state of Idaho.