S.C. Firm Lands Two-Year Medicare, Medicaid Contract

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal government agency responsible for administration of the Medicare program, has awarded Palmetto GBA, a subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, a new contract expanding its role in answering 1-800-MEDICARE phone calls.

The new contract will employ 1,250 people, including 600 people to be hired in June and 650 people currently at work at Palmetto GBA in Columbia and Florence, S.C. All of the new jobs will be in Columbia.

Palmetto’s new contract is for two years, beginning in May, and will enable it to continue answering the phone lines and increases its calls to 50 percent of the national call volume. Under the first contract, Palmetto GBA handled 1.5 million calls.

Palmetto GBA employs more than 3,500 people at its headquarters in Columbia, S.C., and regional offices in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.