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Companion Data Services Awarded Additional Medicare Data Center Contract

Under terms of the contract, CDS's Medicare Enterprise Data Center in Columbia will be responsible for electronic data processing and hosting operations to accommodate an estimated 140 million Medicare claims per year submitted by health care providers inMichigan,Indiana,Ohio andKentucky.

Last year, CMS chose CDS to perform similar data center work in support of claims processing in 30 states, theDistrict of Columbia andPuerto Rico. When operations are up and running for the four newest states -- the transition will begin immediately -- approximately 790 million Medicare fee-for-service claims, or about 65 percent of the nation's total, will be processed through CDS's data center each year.

"We are extremely pleased with CMS's decision to move additional Medicare claims processing into our data center," said Phil Surine, CDS's account director. "The modernization and consolidation of Medicare's operations is a great accomplishment for the program, and we are very excited to be a part of it."

The contract awards to CDS are part of CMS's plan to consolidate more than 20 of its data centers into three Enterprise Data Centers. Objectives are to modernize Medicare operations, expand electronic services, bolster security and lower costs.

In 2006, CMS awarded a 10-year contract to three companies to operate the new Enterprise Data Centers: CDS, EDS and IBM. The contract qualifies those companies to compete for task orders with a total value of $1.9 billion.

About CDS

Headquartered inColumbia, S.C., Companion Data Services (http://www.CompanionDataServices.com) and its parent company provide state- of-the-art health care insurance application systems and one of the largest health care insurance data centers in the world in support of Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and Medicare Advantage health plans, as well as other private health plans.

SOURCE Companion Data Services, LLC