Managed Care Weekly Digest

ACS Acquires Pharm/DUR to Strengthen Pharmacy Audit and Verification Capabilities

Managed Care Weekly Digest Library Library Home This article was published in Managed Care Weekly Digest, which you can subscribe to online.

Pharmacy audit and verification services are essential in ensuring that both private and public health plan dollars are spent appropriately on patient care by identifying and recovering overpayments, detecting and stopping fraudulent activities, and educating providers.

"This acquisition solidifies ACS' leadership position in the pharmacy audit market, and will make the combined operation more competitive as we adopt Pharm/DUR's auditing tools and leverage its nationwide distributed auditor network," said Christopher T. Deelsnyder, senior vice president and managing director of ACS Government Healthcare Solutions. "The veteran management team and talented employees of Pharm/DUR will continue to provide high quality service to its customers."

Pharm/DUR was founded in 1992 by Anthony Spay and Ron Nighswander and has become one of the nation's largest independent pharmacy audit firms. Pharm/DUR's services are designed to cost-effectively identify waste, abuse and fraud in Pharmacy Benefit Management programs. Its proprietary application AUDITrack utilizes paid claims data and specifically developed algorithms to identify potential errors for review.

"The client-focused cultures at Pharm/DUR and ACS will ensure a smooth transition for all of our employees and clients," said Anthony Spay, CEO of Pharm/DUR. "Also, Pharm/DUR's clients will benefit from ACS' diverse healthcare management offerings that can further reduce their operating costs."

Pharm/DUR's revenue for the twelve months ending April 2009 was approximately $6 million.

ACS entered the pharmacy audit business in 2004 with its acquisition of Heritage Information Systems. Today, ACS provides services to 30 pharmacy programs in 27 states and the District of Columbia with a combined drug spend of more than $8 billion for which ACS has developed systems that process more than 125 million claims annually. About ACS ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with approximately 74,000 people supporting client operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at http://www.acs-inc.com.

Keywords: , Health, Pharmaceutical, Professional Services, Consulting, Information Technology, Acquisitions, Common Stock, Computers, Data Management, Data Systems, Finance, Information Systems, Information Technologies, Information Technology, Investing, Investment, Mergers, New York Stock Exchange, Stock Market, Stock Trades, TechnologyManaged Care, Pharmaceuticals, Public Health, ACS.

This article was prepared by Managed Care Weekly Digest editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Managed Care Weekly Digest via NewsRx.com.