Accenture wins $563 million contract for healthcare.gov

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it has selected Accenture Federal Services for a five-year, $563 million contract to continue Accenture’s work on the federally facilitated marketplace in support of healthcare.gov.

“This is a strong statement of confidence in Accenture to continue their success with the exchange,” said MHE Advisor Don Hall, a former health plan CEO, is principal, Delta Sigma LLC, in Littleton, Colorado. “For health plans this is a relief to see that there will be no change in the vendor.”

Accenture, a consulting and technology services company with 281,000 employees and $28.6 billion in revenue, was awarded a one-year contract in January 2014 to make improvements to healthcare.gov. The consultant was tasked with 24/7 support of the Marketplace application, eligibility and enrollment functions, and the generation and transition of enrollment forms.

Accenture mobilized more than 500 people in six weeks to develop and execute the work identified in the letter contract and to assist CMS in defining the work necessary to enhance healthcare.gov.

“Accenture has been an essential member of our team as we focused on delivering a positive consumer experience through healthcare.gov.  We are pleased that Accenture will continue to support healthcare.gov, as we work together to help millions of Americans sign up for quality, affordable health insurance,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in a press release.

Accenture delivered technology solutions and systems to support this year’s enrollment, expanded outreach to issuers, and supported the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), including: 

• Completing all transition activities in an accelerated timeline;

• Executing  architecture changes to increase capacity;

• Implementing usability improvements and re-enrollment capability to support the 2015 enrollment period.

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As the 2014 enrollment period closed, work began to prepare for the 2015 enrollment. Accenture focused on simplifying the process for issuers to update plans, and implemented tools and processes to expedite the resolution of citizen inquiries.  At the same time, Accenture worked with CMS to find new ways to streamline and improve the customer experience.

CMS later expanded Accenture’s scope of work to include enhancements and additional functionality of the federally facilitated marketplace, the SHOP and state-based exchange transitions.  All of these efforts helped create a successful launch of the 2015 Open Enrollment cycle that continues through February 15, 2015.