Posted on 07/02/2013 4:34:27 AM PDT by iowamark
General Dynamics Information Technology has received a federal contract to provide customer support services for the federal Affordable Care Act that will add about 120 jobs at the company’s Coralville call center.
Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, joined company representatives Monday to announce the contract from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The contract also will add “several thousand” jobs at General Dynamics Information Technology call centers in other states, according to an aide to Loebsack.
Mark Meudt, vice president of General Dynamics Information Technology, said the Coralville call center at 2450 Oakdale Blvd. employs about 600. He said it already has begun taking calls about the Affordable Care Act, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014.
Meudt said the hiring timeline will depend on the volume of calls and the staffing required to handle them efficiently.
“We have space within our Coralville facility to accommodate additional staff,” Meudt said. “The contract will not require a physical expansion.”
General Dynamics Information Technology acquired Vangent about two years ago, which already had a relationship with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The center, in addition to handling calls to 1-800-Medicare, also handles calls regarding the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Loebsack said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services originally planned to award the Affordable Care Act customer service support contract on a sole source, no bid basis.
“I went to bat to open the process to competitive bids,” Loebsack said. “I was sure the General Dynamics Information Technology would offer a competitive bid and I’m glad the company was awarded the contract. I’m also glad the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided to do the right thing.”
Phone calls and the people who field them, do not come free. A contract in hand means money, big money. I estimate we are talking over a million dollars in one facility in one state.
So tell me again how the “affordable care act” lives up to it’s name?
Your tax dollars at work!
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/real-estate/2013/06/general-dynamics-information.html
“General Dynamics Information Technology expands at Towson [Maryland]”
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56527828-79/dynamics-general-sandy-center.html.csp
“General Dynamics unit offering 1,600 call center jobs in Sandy, Utah”
http://www.newsherald.com/news/lynn-haven-lands-general-dynamics-1-600-jobs-1.165374
“Lynn Haven [Florida] lands General Dynamics, 1,600 jobs”
http://www.gdit.com/News-And-Events/2013/General-Dynamics-Information-Technology-Delivers-New-Quality-of-Care-System-for-the-NHS-in-England/
“General Dynamics Information Technology Delivers New Quality of Care System for the NHS in England”
Population of 20,000 needs 120 navigators? They will end up being the largest government dept when spread out nationally.
Shouldn’t these jobs all be going to Nebraska?
Part of the Cornhusker Kickback??
IBJNews
St. Vincent Health eliminating about 865 jobs in Indiana
J.K. Wall
June 28, 2013
St. Vincent Health said late Friday afternoon that it has made cuts that will reduce its labor costs by 5 percent—a move that will eliminate about 865 jobs in the state.
St. Vincent employs about 17,300 at its 22 hospitals across Indiana. It was not clear how many workers were losing their jobs within the Indianapolis area. However, people familiar with the cuts said the reductions were heavy in the administrative ranks, and many of those jobs are on the city’s north side.
The reductions are meant to save money as Obamacare and Congressional budget cuts promise to take a bite out of hospital reimbursement rates. At the same time, St. Vincent’s parent organization, St. Louis-based Ascension Health Alliance, is pushing to boost operating profit margins across its national chain of Catholic hospitals.
All hospitals are trying to cut expenses drastically, by as much as 25 percent, in order to prepare for a future they expect to be far more austere than the past. With personnel typically accounting for 60 percent of hospital expenses, staff reductions are an inevitable part of that process.
But St. Vincent’s layoff announcement is the largest single reduction to date among Indiana’s largest hospitals.
http://www.ibj.com/st-vincent-health-eliminating-about-865-jobs/PARAMS/article/42213
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