The government of B.C. has extended the Master Service Agreement with MAXIMUS BC by five years to continue to deliver Health Insurance BC services until March 31, 2020.

Through a competitive selection process that lasted more than a year, government selected MAXIMUS BC to administer Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare services beginning April 1, 2005. Since then, the company has taken over the operations and information technology, replaced the outdated information systems and transformed business processes and procedures to improve service to the public.

Health Insurance BC responsibilities include the administration of Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare business services as well as the registration of health-care providers and payment of medical and pharmacy claims.

The Ministry of Health's objective for Health Insurance BC is to improve and modernize Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare services for the public. The Ministry of Health has established service level requirements to monitor performance for a number of functional areas that are critical to service delivery for the public and health-care providers. Service level requirements have been met or exceeded since November 2005. They include:

• Answering calls promptly and providing accurate assistance.

• Processing enrolment, Premium Assistance applications and account maintenance requests in a timely manner.

• Processing claims and provider requests in a timely manner.

• Maintaining technology that supports health-care providers in a timely manner.

Based on the solid performance of MAXIMUS BC and an analysis of the available options, a five-year contract renewal was deemed the lowest-risk, end-of-term option for the Ministry of Health. A five year renewal is provided for in the existing 10-year contract, and non-renewal of the contract would have required either re-procurement of the services or repatriation of the services back into the ministry.

The new contract incorporates enhancements and improvements following feedback from the Office of the Auditor General, who conducted a performance audit of the contract in parallel with the negotiation of the contract extension.

The cost to renew the contract is $264.3 million. This includes the base services plus additional projects such as supporting PharmaNet modernization and the deployment of the new BC Services Card.

Media contact:

Ryan Jabs, Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)