Department of Health and Human Services purchases doubled in the last 10 years and are expected to keep rising, according to a Kaiser Health News report. The current HHS spending is $21 billion annually, making it the third highest contracting agency in terms of spending.
Here are five things to know:
1. HHS is spending on several areas, including:
- Software
- Insurance websites
- Claims processing
- Data analytics
- Computer system overhauls
- Customer education
- Consulting on cost control
- Identity fraud consulting
2. HHS is expected to add billions to its budget due to the Ebola crisis. The HHS spending spiked due to H1N1 flu vaccinations in 2009.
3. The HHS contracting budget doesn't include what the agency spends to reimburse for Medicare and Medicaid patients or the National Institutes of Health funding.
4. HHS has spent more than $840 million on healthcare.gov and its innovation lab has a $10 billion budget over a 10-year period. There is another $350 million available for hiring "cyber sleuths to fight Medicare fraud."
5. Lockheed Martin, a traditional defense contractor, now has $300 million in contracts with HHS to run computers, winning a $15 billion data management contract from CMS. It's currently in the mix to bid for an $11 billion contract with the Pentagon to modernize medical records for the military.
6. There are some defense companies that are re-tooling their products for healthcare, including Lockheed, which is updating a missile -defense software system to become a tool that would identify sepsis early.
7. Health analytics is another huge opportunity. According to the report, there are some contractors purchasing companies that already specialize in the expertise HHS needs.
8. Booz has won big, selling technology and consulting services, with HHS business growing to $170 million. The company also will receive a portion of a possibly $7 billion job on HHS' innovation lab.