The New Mexico Human Services Department won't say much about its contract negotiations with a firm to administer the state's computerized Medicaid claims system: Not the firm's identity or how many firms bid on the multimillion-dollar deal.

The agency won't say much, in fact, other than it is close to signing the contract.

"We are in a critical period of the contract award process and expect to make the award shortly," agency spokesman Matt Kennicott said in a recent email.

The public silence surrounding the contract comes only months after Gov. Susana Martinez's administration, which has touted its openness, got an earful from state lawmakers and health care advocates over the secrecy involved in hiring a consulting firm for $1.7 million to help the state overhaul Medicaid.

The government's low-income health-insurance program insures one in every four New Mexicans. And the program's information-technology system for processing claims is a mainstay of day-to-day operations, handling tens of thousands of requests a week for payments for services.

At least one state lawmaker said the administration should make more information available publicly.

"Maybe they see it as a routine thing. But it's a big contract, and it's been problematic in the past. That's a reason to be open about it," said Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, a state lawmaker known for her interest in Medicaid. The contract in question could span eight years and cost more than $100 million.

"They have not said mum to me," Feldman said, adding that people had complained to her that they are "ill-served by the current payment system ... because of the contractor's mistakes. And they are some of the most vulnerable people."

Feldman was referring to Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas, which, as the current contractor, is paid $15 million a year to administer the state's Medicaid IT system.

Citing the ongoing procurement process, the state won't say if it is negotiating with Affiliated for the new contract. Likewise, a spokesperson for Affiliated declined to comment Wednesday, saying the firm doesn't comment on "open procurements."

According to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Affiliated is no stranger to operating states' Medicaid information-technology systems, having run such systems in 10 other states, including Texas and Colorado.

The state's Medicaid Management Information System, as the state's Medicaid IT system is known, processes 95,000 claims a week in Medicaid's fee-for-service program, meaning it processes and pays claims submitted directly from providers for services rendered to Medicaid enrollees who are not in a managed-care program. In addition, it also handles hundreds of thousands of actions each month involving the state's managed-care programs, which serve nearly 80 percent of New Mexico's Medicaid recipients.

The upgrade to the computer claims system coincides with the Martinez administration's desire to redesign Medicaid, whose cost has grown in recent years to nearly $3.9 billion, most of which is paid by the federal government.

What that overhaul will look like and how the Medicaid claims-system upgrade will fit into the plan both remain unclear. Among the goals of the Medicaid redesign, dubbed "Medicaid modernization" by the administration, is to encourage healthier outcomes for Medicaid recipients by putting into place pay-for-performance targets for health care providers.

But the state likely won't mine data in the Medicaid IT system to track a recipient's health. Instead, a separate "health information exchange" is being constructed to "allow the Department to access the clinical health data stored in electronic medical records so the Department can analyze program effectiveness," Kennicott said in an email.

The state's Medicaid computer claims system is overdue for an upgrade, officials said, especially with major provisions of the nation's new health care law going into effect in 2014, when an additional 130,000 to 170,000 New Mexicans are expected to enroll in the Medicaid program.

Given the future influx of recipients and the new law, the state must enhance the IT system, adding electronic eligibility and claims status inquiries and responses, Kennicott said. It also is contemplating making optional improvements such as Web-based provider enrollment, a Web portal for Medicaid enrollees and a Web-based claims-entry system, all to be performed by the new contractor.

The computer claims system "is an integral part of the day-to-day operations of the state's Medicaid programs," Kennicott wrote in an email. "We need to maintain a well operating system in order to process claims in a timely manner and support the program in other ways."

Contact Trip Jennings at 986-3050 or at tjennings@sfnewmexican.com.