CMS Awards Empower AI (formerly NCI) $112 Million Contract Extension to Continue Monitoring, Measuring and Reporting Support of Medicare Payments

Government digital transformation leader to provide artificial intelligence-powered solutions to advance monitoring capabilities

RESTON, Va., Sept. 7, 2021 – Empower AI (formerly NCI), a leading provider of digital transformation solutions and services to U.S. government agencies, announced today it has been awarded a $112 million prime contract extension from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) contract, NCI will expand the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, including the use of robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning (ML), to advance the agency’s monitoring, measuring and reporting of Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) improper payments. The contract extends Empower AI’s more than 20-year history of supporting the CERT program.

“As federal agencies continue to embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, they will become more efficient and enable their workforce to focus on more mission-critical work,” said Paul A. Dillahay, president and CEO of Empower AI. “We are honored that CMS continues to entrust its CERT program to our team. We’re proud to leverage our broad array of proven AI technology solutions to drive new levels of financial management efficiency and accuracy for this important program.

”With the five-year contract extension, Empower AI will expand its AI/ML/RPA capabilities and empowerments already deployed for the Medicare payment integrity program. Empower AI is responsible for assisting CMS with the selection and review of Medicare FFS claims to determine whether each claim was paid properly under Medicare coverage, coding and billing rules. Total and partial payment errors are then used in the calculation and reporting of the improper payment rate, which is delivered to Congress as part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ annual Agency Financial Report.In addition to its CERT and Payment Error Rate Measurement contracts at CMS, Empower AI was also recently awarded a contract to support the CMS Office of Hearings and Inquiries in their review of Risk Adjustment Data Validation appeals.