Maximus Inc.
Maximus Inc., trademarked as MAXIMUS, is an American outsourcing company that provides business process services to government health and human services agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Maximus focuses on administering government-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, health care reform, welfare-to-work, Medicare, child support enforcement, and other government programs. The company is based in Reston, Virginia, has more than 34,000 employees and a reported annual revenue of $2.39 billion in fiscal year 2018.
History
Maximus was founded in 1975 by David V. Mastran, a former employee of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. A graduate of the United States Military Academy which he states his Army father 'groomed' him for, he joined the United States Air Force, who sent him to study operations and engineering at Stanford University. He then worked analyzing the reliability of ICBM missiles and the effectiveness of bombing in the Vietnam War. After seven years in the Air Force he "went from analyzing bombs to analyzing welfare", and "automation" in government, before leaving for a private firm focused on winning government contracts. After eight months he left and started Maximus by himself in 1975. In 1987 Maximus won its first contract for social welfare, in Los Angeles, and transitioned its business focus to operating government programs and services.In 1997, the company went public, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MMS. ln 2004, Lynn Davenport became chief executive officer. Davenport was terminated in April 2006 for violating the company's code of conduct. Richard Montoni, former chief financial officer for MAXIMUS, was named CEO on April 24, 2006. Montoni has been credited with improving the company's performance and was named one of Tech's Top Turnaround Artists by Bloomberg. In 2007, the company announced it was exploring strategic alternatives, including sale, but ultimately chose to divest several business lines and focus its business in health and human services business process management.
On April 30 of 2008, the organization sold its Security Solutions division. On September 30, 2008, the company sold its Justice Solutions, Education Systems, and Asset Solutions divisions. The company also completed the sale of its ERP division in 2010. In 2010, MAXIMUS acquired DeltaWare, a developer of health administration management systems for the Canadian government health care market. In 2012, the company acquired Denver-based Policy Studies Incorporated for $67 million. In 2013, MAXIMUS acquired UK-based Health Management Ltd.. On April 6, 2015, the company completed the $300 million acquisition of Falls-Church-based technology contractor, Acentia. The deal significantly adds to the company's federal business by bringing on new customers and new contract vehicles. In 2018, MAXIMUS acquired U.S. Federal citizen engagement center assets from another government contractor for $400 million in cash.
In 2018, after twelve successful years as CEO, Richard Montoni announced his retirement and the company appointed President Bruce Caswell to the position of chief executive officer. Mr. Caswell took over the reigns with a vision to embark the company on a digital transformation and clinical evolution in order to help governments transform the way they engage with citizens through public programs.
Services
Health services
MAXIMUS provides a variety of services for government health programs including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Medicare and health insurance exchanges as required under the Affordable Care Act. MAXIMUS serves on the Enroll America advisory council.The company is the largest provider of administrative services for Medicaid and CHIP in the United States, serving more than 50% of the market. In September 2012, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services awarded Maximus Health Services a two-year, $76.8 million contract to help the state with its Medicaid program. That same month, Maximus announced a $23.5 million contract with the State of Oklahoma to operate a customer relationship management system for SoonerCare, the state's Medicaid program, and Insure Oklahoma, a program that provides employers with subsidies to help buy private market health insurance for their low- to moderate-income employees.
Maximus is also the largest provider of privatized health insurance appeals to Medicare. In 2012 it expanded its growing Federal operations, bringing 500 local jobs to upstate New York and Pennsylvania, including more than 325 jobs in Pittsford, NY and more than 125 jobs to Scranton, PA.
The company offers services in the health insurance exchange marketplace and in July 2012, the Minnesota Department of Commerce awarded Maximus a two-year, $41 million contract to create the state's new health insurance exchange. In February 2013, Connecticut awarded Maximus a $15 million contract to run the customer contact center operations for the state's health insurance exchange, Access Health CT.
Maximus won a £500m government contract to decide whether disabled people are able to return to work after Atos abandoned their contract to perform assessments in 2014. Professor Michael O'Donnell, the former medical director of Atos now works as the medical director of Health Management Limited which is a subsidiary of Maximus. It was alleged that the removal of all reference to his previous role at Atos from his career history on the business networking site LinkedIn in November 2014 was an effort to conceal the close relationship between the two organisations.
Human services
Maximus operates a variety of human services programs, including welfare-to-work, child support enforcement, child care, child welfare, specialized consulting, K-12 special education software and higher education consulting.In 2011, Maximus was recognized as the top performing provider for welfare-to-work services under the United Kingdom's Flexible New Deal programme, helping job seekers into long-term sustained employment. Following the Flexible New Deal, the United Kingdom government unveiled a replacement program, called the Work Programme, that created welfare reform changes. Maximus serves as a contractor in three regions under the UK's Work Programme initiative. Its subsidiary, Centre for Health and Disability Assessments Ltd., runs Work Capability Assessments with a contract which began in 2014 and runs until July 2021.
In 2012, the company launched its first welfare-to-work program in Canada and expanded its Australia operations with a five-year contract to help people with disabilities find employment.
Maximus also provides services for child support programs. In 2009, the company won a five-year contract to collect and enforce child-support collections in Shelby County, Tennessee. Maximus launched Project NOW, an initiative that collected more than $35,000 to help nearly 100 parents in Shelby County get back on track after missing child support payments.
Awards and recognitions
Maximus CEO Richard Montoni received the 2012 Washington, D.C. GovCon Executive of the Year Award among companies with annual revenue greater than $300 million. In addition, Maximus was one of five companies with annual revenue greater than $300 million that were selected as finalists for the 2012 Washington, D.C. GovCon Contractor of the Year Award.In 2013, Maximus CFO David Walker was nominated for Public Company Chief Financial Officer of the Year by the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
Gartner selected Maximus as the overall winner of the 2011 Business Process Management Program of the Year. Maximus was also awarded top honors for the "Most Innovative Use" of BPM.
Several Maximus customer contact centers were recognized by BenchmarkPortal. BenchmarkPortal has recognized the Maximus Mass Health and Georgia Families Customer Contact Service Operations Centers, the California Health Care Options Call Center, the New York Medicaid Choice Call Center, and the Texas Eligibility Support Services Customer Contact Center.
DeltaWare, a subsidiary of Maximus, has been ranked one of the Top Places to Work for three consecutive years by Atlantic Canada's Top Employers Competition.
In 2015, Maximus was recognized as one of the Top Companies to work for in the Washington, D.C. area by the Washington Post.
Fortune Magazine included MAXIMUS on the 2017 Most Admired Companies List.
Community service and charitable contributions
Corporate sponsorships
Maximus provides financial support for a variety of initiatives, including the National Hispanic Health Foundation scholarship program targeted to leadership and service to underserved populations and the Urban League of Middle Tennessee.In 2010, Maximus joined other Northern Virginia technology companies to provide pro bono work to help digitize mislabeled and unaccounted-for graves and upgrade a paper record-keeping system at Arlington National Cemetery, an effort that U.S. Senator Mark Warner called "corporate citizenship at its best."
In 2011, Maximus helped fund No Kid Hungry Texas, a joint initiative of Share our Strength and the Texas Hunger Initiative to reduce childhood hunger through existing nutrition plans. That same year, Maximus Australia held the Great Australian Christmas Jobs Drive campaign, which exceeded its target of getting 10,000 unemployed people into work by Christmas Day. As part of the campaign, MAX Employment donated $100,000 to The Smith Family Christmas Appeal.
In 2012, Maximus Canada hosted the UrbaCity Challenge, an amazing race-style event in Victoria, British Columbia that raised $15,000 for the Prostate Centre, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing unbiased information on prostate cancer to men and their families. At the event in 2015, more than 200 urban adventures managed to raise $50,000 by racing through the streets of downtown Victoria during the fifth anniversary of the UrbaCity Challenge. Maximus Canada contributed $15,000 in addition to the $35,000 that racers donated. In 2018, the amount raised grew to 55,095 from 242 racers in addition to the $15,000 donation from Maximus Canada for a total of $70,095.
In June 2015, the Maximus Foundation was recognized as a Bronze sponsor of Special Olympics Connecticut's annual Summer Games. Through their sponsorship, the Foundation helped the organization welcome more than 2,300 competitors for a weekend-long athletic competition.
The Maximus Foundation
The Maximus Foundation is a non-profit,501 charitable organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia that funds programs that help disadvantaged individuals achieve self-sufficiency and personal growth, particularly those programs serving kids. It is funded by charitable gifts from employees of Maximus and supplemented by grants from the company. As Chairman of the Foundation, Dr. John Boyer received a Medical Leadership award from the National Hispanic Medical Associations. In 2013, Boyer was also awarded the 2013 Ripple of Hope Award.The Maximus Foundation awards grants biannually, once in the spring and once in the fall. In 2009, the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation used grant support from the Maximus Foundation to upgrade aging computer equipment and build its capacity to promote quality services and provide required reports to New York State. In 2011, EMQ FamiliesFirst, a California-based non-profit agency that helps children in crisis and their families received a grant from the Maximus Foundation. In 2012, the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation used grant money from the Maximus Foundation to start the Greenhouse Roof Operation, a program to teach disadvantaged youth vocational skills through the construction and operation of a hydroponic farm. That same year, the Maximus Foundation awarded a $2,000 grant to United Neighborhood Centers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as well as over $100,000 in grants, which included funding for Washington D.C non-profit organizations, such as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, DEA Educational Foundation, Dreams for Kids, the Fishing School and Mary's Center for Maternal and Childcare, KEEN Greater DC, Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, A Wider Circle the Children's AIDS Fund, Herndon-Reston FISH, ROSMY, Safe Harbor and WETA-TV.
In the 2015 spring cycle, the Foundation announced that it distributed approximately $390,000 in grants to 121 nonprofit organizations in 22 states as part of the grant cycle. Grantees included and the Community Health Centers of Burlington.
In June 2015, the Maximus Foundation contributed more than $29,000 to Nepal Earthquake Relief through Project HOPE. The following month, Manos de Cristo, a Maximus Foundation grantee, provided back-to-school supplies to more than 2,000 low-income children in the Austin, Texas area. The agency provided the children with new clothing, socks, and a brand-new backpack with school supplies.
Maximus announced that it donated $20,000 to the Charleston Shooting victims memorial fund. Half of the proceeds came from employees and was matched by the company for $20,000 total. The fund will direct the funds toward youth development, healthcare access and economic opportunity.
Criticisms
November 1997- The Hartford Courant reported that Maximus "gets minimal results" when it was hired by the State of Connecticut to manage a child care program for recipients of welfare. According to the Record-Journal, Maximus "hired too few people, installed an inadequate phone system and fell weeks or months behind in making payments to day care providers." The Connecticut Department of Social Services asked Maximus to meet improvement goals and by December, DSS Commissioner Joyce A. Thomas noted improvements on several fronts commenting, "The good news for Connecticut's child care providers and the families we all serve is that the situation is rapidly improving. Maximus has come a long way, and we are confident that current efforts are paving the way to long-term improvements."December 1998- The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that the State of Florida had paid Maximus $4.5 Million for a Child Support Recovery contract. Maximus was only able to collect $162,000. "On average taxpayers paid Maximus $25 for every 3 cents collected."
April 2000- A New York judge ruled that Maximus "misled" the city's Human Resources Administration about the role a former senior policy adviser to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani played in the company's proposal for a welfare contract. Six months later, in October 2000, the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court, unanimously overturned the lower court's ruling, stating, "There was no evidence of favoritism...There was no evidence that Maximus was afforded unfair access."
October 2000- Six state lawmakers in Wisconsin called for the termination of Maximus' W-2 contract, saying the firm has "broken faith with the state and poor people the agency serves in Milwaukee County."
June 2001- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that two Maximus employees filed discrimination complaints against the company. The employees stated that Maximus is so lacking in diversity that the companies minority employees referred to it as "White Castle/"
July 2007- Maximus settled a lawsuit brought against it by the United States government for involvement in falsifying Medicaid claims for $30.5 million.
October 2010- The Los Angeles Times reported that 146 medical workers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists were allowed to keep working despite failing drug tests. Maximus was awarded a $2.5 Million a year contract to run California's confidential "diversion programs". Maximus contracted the work out to a subcontractor who in turn subcontracted the work to another company. The drug testing company was using the wrong standard of drug test from December 2009 to August 2010, resulting in medical workers who tested positive for drugs to continue working.
June 2011- Boston-based Fox25 news uncovered that a wanted fugitive by the name of Maureen Simonetti was working for Maximus as a manager on the MassHealth project and had access to the personal information of individuals who use MassHealth for their healthcare. Simonetti's attorney said his client disclosed pleading no contest to grand theft on her application to work at Maximus in 2005. However, the required Massachusetts background check, known as a CORI, did not uncover Simonetti's grand theft case in Florida, which is an out of state criminal record. Maximus stated that it had "no reason to believe that anyone's personal information was used inappropriately" and terminated Simonetti.
September 2011- Maximus Inc. was sued by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for disability discrimination for failure to promote a female employee because it regarded her as disabled. Maximus settled the lawsuit in August 2012.
June 2012- Through an internal privacy audit, Maximus discovered that a worker in Canada illegally viewed personal health records of 43 Canadians. The worker involved was immediately suspended and later fired. Health critic and member of the New Democratic Party Mike Farnworth said the incident was disturbing. "It's concerning, we've had concerns about Maximus in the past," he said. "I think what I would like to know - is this an isolated incident? Has it happened in the past?" Ryan Jabs, spokesman for the British Columbia Health Ministry said,"The risk is really low level because it looks like he or she was accessing the information out of curiosity but not for any fraudulent activity."
January 2013- A Maximus employee, Marilyn Beltran, based in Boston MA was indicted for allegedly stealing more than $490,000 from the Massachusetts Medicaid program. The theft had occurred over a period of nine years.
2016 the New York City Public Advocate Letitia James sued the city's Department of Education over a system built by Maximus. The system, called SESIS, was meant to help the city track services for students with disabilities, but was prone to malfunctions and did not fully answer its original defined functional scope. The system had cost the city ~$130 million to build, but also incurred at least ~$356 million more in lost Medicaid reimbursements.
February 2020- Oxygen reported that Netflix's new show highlights the shortcoming of Maximus's failures in the death of Gabriel Fernandez, the 8-year-old boy beaten & tortured to death by his mother and her boyfriend.