Outsourcing, GAO, Federal, Contractors, State, Medicaid, Agencies

Onshore outsourcing widespread amongst US federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies – GAO

13 Sep 2006 | (Survey)

According to a study by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies widely reported domestic outsourcing of services involving the use of personal health information but little offshore outsourcing. Among those that completed GAO’s survey, more than 90 percent of Medicare contractors and state Medicaid agencies and 63 percent of TRICARE contractors reported some domestic outsourcing in 2005. Typically, survey groups reported engaging from 3 to 20 U.S. vendors (commonly known as subcontractors). One federal contractor and one state Medicaid agency reported outsourcing services directly offshore. However, some federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies also knew that their domestic vendors had initiated offshore outsourcing.

In responding to GAO’s survey, over 40 percent of the federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies reported that they experienced a recent privacy breach involving personal health information. (The frequency or severity of these breaches was not reported.) By survey group, 47 percent of Medicare Advantage contractors reported privacy breaches within the past 2 years, as did 44 percent of Medicaid agencies, 42 percent of Medicare FFS contractors, and 38 percent of TRICARE contractors.

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