With an eye towards health reform improvements, the Department of Vermont Health Access has signed a four-year $48 million contract with HP Enterprise Services, which will continue on as the state’s Medicaid fiscal agent after more than three decades.

The agreement covers the relocation of Vermont’s current Medicaid Management Information System, or MMIS, to an HP data center. HP also will upgrade provider call-center technology to improve customer service and enhance the efficiency of call routing and increase business-continuity capabilities.

The Green Mountain State will leverage HP’s knowledge and investment in the healthcare market to improve flexibility and provide increased scalability and security, officials say.

Vermont will also expand its use of the HP Medical Assistance Provider Incentive Repository tool to track meaningful use incentive payments to providers.

In addition, HP will remediate the current system to be compliant with ICD-10 in support of HIPAA national standards.

“The state of Vermont needed to be prepared for and adapt to a nationwide healthcare transformation,” said Susan Arthur, vice president, U.S. Health and Life Sciences Industry, HP Enterprise Services. “The HP team helped develop a powerful and reliable Medicaid infrastructure that will enable Vermont to provide for those in need while maintaining fiscal responsibility.”

HP and the state have integrated Vermont Medicaid with 25 other healthcare programs under a single-processing environment supported by the MMIS. This enables the state to maximize federal funding and reduce administrative overhead.

Under the agreement, HP continues to provide Vermont with claims processing, financial management, drug rebate processing, system maintenance and modification, and provider services, including enrollment, education and call center support for all 26 healthcare programs, officials say.

Last year, HP processed more than 9.6 million Vermont healthcare claims for approximately 166,000 recipients, distributing more than $1.1 billion in Medicaid and other payments to nearly 12,000 healthcare providers. HP call centers fielded more than 141,000 provider calls last year.