NDC Ndchealth Corp

NDCHealth Awarded CMS Medicare Part D Contract -Company to Provide Electronic Services for Medicare's New Prescription Drug Coverage ATLANTA, May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NDCHealth Corporation (NYSE:NDC), a leading provider of healthcare technology and information solutions, announced today that on May 11, 2005, it was awarded a contract by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to deliver real-time claims transaction information to insurance plans managing Medicare's new prescription drug coverage (Medicare Part D), as well as provide Medicare enrollee drug coverage eligibility information to retail pharmacies requesting that information. Medicare Part D is a provision of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that will offer a permanent, voluntary prescription-drug benefit that will take effect January 1, 2006. Under terms of the contract, NDCHealth will facilitate the exchange of claim information related to co-payment expenses among Medicare's drug benefit insurance plans and other supplemental payers providing the Medicare enrollee drug benefits. Tracking the true, out-of-pocket (TrOOP) drug expenses incurred by Medicare recipients enrolled in the new prescription drug program is critical to the structure of the benefit as an enrollee's co-pay responsibility varies depending on how much they have paid out-of-pocket in the aggregate for their drugs. NDCHealth also will be responsible for facilitating retail pharmacy inquiries on Medicare Part D enrollee benefit eligibility to their designated Medicare Part D insurance plan. The awarding of the contract follows a request for proposal process. NDCHealth will develop supplemental technology to its existing pharmacy claims network, the NDCHealth Intelligent Network, to facilitate the information exchange among multiple insurance payers and the new types of pharmacy claims inquiry transactions. "We are gratified to be selected by CMS to support the implementation of this significant, new component of the Medicare program," said Walter Hoff, chairman and chief executive officer, NDCHealth. "In this role, we will enable our pharmacy customers to help their patients understand their benefit coverage, and facilitate real-time information exchange between government- sponsored health plans and other third-party plans. "Given NDCHealth's strong history of reliably processing the majority of the nation's pharmacy claims," Hoff continued, "we believe our network offers a vital solutions platform for information sharing among all parties. We look forward to successfully working together with our pharmacy customers and other technology vendors to support CMS in providing more personalized services for Medicare beneficiaries." About the NDCHealth Intelligent Network The NDCHealth Intelligent Network is one of North America's largest and most reliable electronic healthcare transaction networks. It is connected to more than 85% of all U.S. pharmacies and processes more than 5 billion pharmacy claims transactions annually. About NDCHealth NDCHealth is a leading information solutions company serving all sectors of healthcare. Its network solutions have long been among the nation's leading, automating the exchange of information among pharmacies, payers, hospitals and physicians. Its systems and information management solutions help improve operational efficiencies and business decision making for providers, retail pharmacy and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Headquartered at Atlanta, Ga., NDCHealth provides information vital to the delivery of healthcare every day. For more information, visit http://www.ndchealth.com/ . NDCHealth and NDC are trademarks of NDCHealth Corporation. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the company. DATASOURCE: NDCHealth Corporation CONTACT: Robin Wrinn, Director, Public & Media Relations of NDCHealth Corporation, +1-404-728-2214, or Web site: http://www.ndchealth.com/

Copyright