IHS awards $1.26M to Anchorage firm to reduce patient billing backlog

A federal effort to clear a backlog of unpaid patient claims is moving to Anchorage, where errors in that backlog can leave patients facing billing mistakes. The Indian Health Service has awarded a three-year, $1,261,920 contract to Koniag Advisory and Business Solutions, LLC, an Anchorage-based subsidiary of Koniag Government Services, the federal-contracting arm of Alaska Native regional corporation Koniag Inc. The delivery order, 75H71126F27010, is set to run from Aug. 15, 2026, through Aug. 14, 2029. The agency's Northern and Southern Tiers "have a backlog of patient visits to code and bill," according to the contract record, and the task order will fund a team to code, bill and reduce it, work IHS calls essential to continued operations.

The posting does not specify the backlog's size. HHS Office of Inspector General reviews have found workload and software problems producing unbilled-claim backlogs at some facilities, including one manager who reported up to 4,000 pending claims; separate OIG audits attributed inaccurate IHS claims to inadequate internal controls, staffing and training. A 2022 Government Accountability Office report treats a 30-day coding backlog as a warning sign. GAO placed IHS programs on its High Risk List in 2017.