02.15.12 A proposed $185 million contract with a firm to handle Louisiana's Medicaid claims processing has cleared its biggest hurdle - approval by the federal government's health agency.

State health agency officials have been waiting for months for the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to agree to Louisiana's deal with CNSI, the Maryland company that won the bid. CNSI at one time employed Bruce Greenstein, the head of the agency that would oversee the work contracted by the state.

With the CMS go-ahead, all that's needed now is for the Jindal administration to approve, which state Department of Health and Hospitals Undersecretary Jerry Phillips said: "We expect pretty quickly."

 

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