Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Continue to Expand, Integrate and Centralize Data with Significant Capacity Upgrade from Teradata.

World's Largest Health-Care Data Processor Extends Investment in Enterprise Intelligence

DAYTON, Ohio -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are expanding the capacity of their integrated data repository, according to Teradata, a division of NCR Government Systems LLC, which is owned by NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR). The Teradata environment at CMS comprises the largest volume of health-care-related data files in the world.

CMS annually disseminates more data than any other federal agency or private-sector company to researchers, policy groups, associations, medical groups, and private citizens. CMS administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with the states to administer Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and health insurance portability standards. CMS is responsible for the policies of and payment for health-care services to the senior citizen and indigent population of the United States.

"We are excited to see the world's largest holder of health-care information apply the best data management practices of many successful Fortune 500 businesses," said Dr. Gary Christoph, chief informatics officer for Teradata at NCR Government Systems LLC. "Organizations that are willing to exercise thought leadership at an executive level and invest in a centralized, enterprise-class intelligence environment have shown they benefit in the megamillions of dollars - not only in return on investment, but also in lower total cost of ownership."

CMS information systems have a massive and growing workload for data processing, analysis and dissemination. The Medicare Modernization Act added new benefits to Medicare and, along with the increases in Medicare claims from aging baby boomers, the growth of data and the requirement for more data warehouse capacity are rising dramatically. Currently CMS collects more than 40 billion claims and other beneficiary records each year and maintains tables that contain billions of rows of data.

"The enormous quantities of detailed, dynamic data managed by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid require an enterprise-class intelligence environment that can provide speed, flexibility and scalability at a highly advanced level," said Bill Cooper, vice president of NCR Government Systems LLC. "The Teradata platform is designed to meet escalating requirements for large and growing organizations amid rising complexity and data volumes."

With this expansion, CMS will manage a 20-terabyte data warehouse. A Teradata Professional Services team will assist CMS in setting up, supporting and governing the data warehouse. A separate Teradata Customer Services group will provide business-critical maintenance, customer education, installation and other services. The CMS data warehouse, referred to as its Integrated Data Repository, is expected to grow to 180 terabytes in four years. In a recent interview, CMS said the centralization of data will improve its ability to analyze its data for many purposes, notably, to identify fraud in claims.

Christoph said that everyday users of the data warehouse will be among the first to notice improvements in data access and quality. "They will get quicker access to more credible and complete information - which helps them become more efficient and effective in their work. Nowhere is this more important than in health-care management, which affects business performance and more specifically, the quality of life for millions of people."

Christoph added that in the case of CMS, "Having this capability has been a dream of theirs for a decade, to more readily and effectively use their mountains of health-care and payments data for improving health-care policy and practices."

Prior to his current role with Teradata and NCR, Christoph was the first chief information officer for CMS, formerly called the Health Care Financing Administration.

The centralization of enterprise data, while not a new idea, is becoming more widely adopted among large companies, who are building centralized data warehouses for strategic reasons. Key among the reasons is the need to access all relevant information from across the business on a moment's notice to make more precise decisions.

Leading analysts recommend the centralization of information in one single data warehouse, citing benefits for IT and business users as well as executive management. One such recommendation comes from Forrester analyst J. Paul Kirby, who writes, "A centralized data warehouse stores all information in a single database instance. All in all, centralized architectures provide the greatest long-term benefitsC* at the forefront of the benefits is consistencyC* centralized architectures allow universal requirements to be implemented once, reducing the chance of mistakes and allowing staff to work more efficiently." ("Data Warehousing Architectures Must Reflect Business Consensus," Forrester Research, July 14, 2006)

AMR Research analyst Colleen Niven has similarly written that "The need for more dependable and, in some instances, real-time data has shifted strategy from hundreds of departmental data marts to more centralized data warehouses." (Colleen Niven, AMR Research Alert, Feb. 5, 2003)

About CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administers the Medicare program and works with the states to administer Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and health insurance portability standards. In addition to these programs, CMS has other responsibilities, including the administrative simplification standards from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), quality standards in health-care facilities through its survey and certification activity and clinical laboratory quality standards.

About Teradata Division

Teradata (www.teradata.com), a division of NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), is the global technology leader in enterprise data warehousing, analytic applications and data warehousing services. Organizations around the world rely on the power of Teradata's award-winning solutions to get a single, integrated view of their business to enhance decision-making, customer relationships and profitability. As a growing business, Teradata is always looking for outstanding talent. To learn more about Teradata career opportunities, visit www.teradata.com/careers.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) is a leading global technology company helping businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. NCR's Teradata[R] data warehouses, ATMs, retail systems, self-service solutions and IT services provide Relationship Technology[TM] that maximizes the value of customer interactions and helps organizations create a stronger competitive position. Based in Dayton, Ohio, NCR (www.ncr.com) employs approximately 29,300 people worldwide.

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