NewsWatch: IBM wins contract for Medicare IT

Friday, March 24, 2006

IBM’s Bethesda office and two partners have been selected to consolidate 17 data-processing centers into three ‘‘highly efficient” ones for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over the next five years. IBM’s portion of the contract is valued at about $200 million, according to IBM information.

The other companies are Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, and Companion Data Services LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, based in Columbia, S.C.

‘‘It’s a landmark deal, offering several hundred million dollars of opportunity,” said Anne Altman, managing director of the Bethesda IBM office, which has about 1,000 employees.

‘‘This project is not just IT support,” Altman said. ‘‘They have taken a hard look at their business and how they intend to prepare their system for the future to serve their [Medicare and Medicaid] citizens.”

The agency, which expects to save nearly $45 million annually when the project is completed, is trying to fulfill requirements of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which mandates that it use competitive bidding to streamline operations and costs.

WorldSpace reportsrevenue increase

WorldSpace, a satellite radio company in Silver Spring, reported a 95 percent increase in revenue over the prior year, to $4.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. The company also reported a smaller net loss, $33.2 million, for the quarter, than a loss of $418.2 million for the same period in 2004.

For the year, revenues for 2005 were $11.7 million, up 36 percent from $8.6 million in 2004. The company’s net loss was $79.9 million for 2005, versus a net loss of $577.4 million in 2004. WorldSpace finished 2005 with 115,306 subscribers.

Reopening Eastalco plantmay depend on bills

Less than three months after shutting down operations at its Eastalco aluminum smelting facility in Adamstown — putting most of its 600 employees out of work — Alcoa’s best chance of reopening the plant may lie in the legislature.

Del. Galen R. Clagett (D–Dist. 3A) of Frederick has introduced legislation to expedite the permitting process for the company to build its own power generating facility.

The House Economic Matters Committee earlier this month reviewed two similar bills from Clagett, giving one of them an ‘‘unfavorable report” Monday. Clagett still has hopes for the second bill. The bills, he said, condense ‘‘the whole process so that [permitting] happens a lot more quickly.”

Lockheed IT awarded$305M FBI contract

Lockheed Martin Information Technology of Seabrook has been awarded the six-year, $305 million Sentinel information technology contract by the FBI.

The company and its partners are to produce an integrated system that supports processing, storage and management of the FBI’s current paper-based criminal investigation records system.

Lockheed ‘‘understands the critical importance of Sentinel in fulfilling the need for timely, secure information exchange in order to protect our nation’s security,” Linda Gooden, president of the IT division, said in a statement.

BioElectronics launchingstudy program with clinic

BioElectronics Corp. of Frederick and the Lahey Clinic of Burlington, Mass., are starting a three-year program to study the effects of the company’s ActiPatch on a variety of soft-tissue injuries and related medical conditions.

The drug-free, anti-inflammatory patch has an embedded battery-operated microchip that delivers pulsed therapy intended to reduce soft tissue pain and swelling.

The clinic, whose staff is affiliated with the medical schools of Harvard and Tufts universities, has committed to initiating a number of double-blind clinical studies in the areas of plastic surgery, orthopedics and chronic wound care. Results may be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for expanded indications for the use of the patch.

United Therapeutics getsexpanded FDA approval

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a supplemental new drug application for the Remodulin injection developed by United Therapeutics Corp. of Silver Spring.

The application was filed as part of the FDA’s requirement for a phase 4 post-marketing study to confirm the clinical benefit of Remodulin in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients, according to company information.