Universal American Deal Yields Patni BPO Services Contract and TPA Acquisition

Patni has acquired CHCS Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal American, and signed a related five-year, multi-million dollar contract to provide end-to-end policy administration services to Universal American.

Health insurance holding company Universal American (Rye Brook, N.Y.) and BPO provider Patni Computer Systems (Mumbai) have signed a five-year, multi-million dollar agreement whereby the vendor will provide end-to-end policy administration services. Patni has signed a related definitive agreement to acquire CHCS Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal American, establishing Patni as a full-service TPA in the health insurance sector. The companies declined to share the terms of the transactions. Patni will continue to service CHCS's existing clients.

"This represents the largest win in the Company's history and this strategic acquisition of CHCS Services, Inc. is a strong validation of Patni's differentiated micro-vertical strategy," comments Jeya Kumar, CEO, Patni. "This move takes on dual significance for Patni in terms of growing our global Life and Healthcare Insurance business as well as establishing us as a TPA."

In addition to creating a new line of business for Patni, the acquisition of CHCS creates a new hub for Patni in Pensacola, Fla; Patni's North American facilities include onshore delivery capabilities supported in sites in Bloomington, Ill., and El Paso, Texas, as well as a near-shore center in Mexico. By establishing Patni as a Third-Party Administrator (TPA) in the Insurance and Healthcare sector, the deal significantly enhances the vendor's existing BPO capabilities to deliver end-to-end platform based solutions and TPA services to insurers' back-office transactions, a Patni statement says.

"This acquisition is a major milestone in our endeavor to expand our platform based offerings," says Ganesh Iyer, SVP and global head, BFSI, Patni. "Continuing our innovation led strategy we will deliver significant IP led differentiation around this platform to leverage both, IT best practices for complete lifecycle of application management and to also bring in efficiencies based on operational best practices for full policy lifecycle management."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio