Cognosante Wins No Surprises Help Desk Contract From CMS

Virginia-headquartered Cognosante announced that its customer experience business unit, CognoConnected, was awarded the No Surprises Help Desk contract by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The three-year contract consists of a base year and two option years with an approximate value of $26 million, Cognosante said Thursday.

Under the deal, the company will support the CMS’ implementation of the No Surprises Act by establishing a multi-tiered help desk to identify, track, triage, and manage all calls and web-based submissions related to NSA complaints and violations.

James Gordon, president of Cognosante, said his company is proud to have been chosen by the CMS to deliver and improve the customer experience related to the No Surprises Act. He added that the company will leverage its CX expertise to provide advanced-level support for complex NSA case inquiries.

Gordon, a member of the Potomac Officers Club and 2022 Wash100 awardee, said that Cognosante will also support continuous service delivery excellence by providing performance data used to monitor program integrity and identify areas for process improvement. The company’s latest win reaffirms its commitment to continued growth and expansion in the CX space, building on the recent award of the $200 million Enrollment Resolution & Reconciliation and Form 1095-A Data Reporting contract, he added.

Meanwhile, as of January, the NSA has given consumers new billing protections when getting emergency care, non-emergency care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and air ambulance services from out-of-network providers. The new law restricts excessive out-of-pocket costs to patients and mandates that “emergency services must continue to be covered without any prior authorization, and regardless of whether or not a provider or facility is in-network,” the CMS said on its website.