A health care consulting firm in Wauwatosa that monitors and analyzes pharmacy benefit data is rapidly expanding into the software industry.
Since December, Tricast, Inc. has hired 10 software developers and expanded into 2,800 square feet of office space at its headquarters on Innovation Drive in the Milwaukee County Research Park. The company now occupies around 12,000 square feet at 10400 W. Innovation Dr.
“We’ve gone from a consulting business to a software business,” said Jeff Galas, vice president of Client Services. “We’ve brought on developers like crazy — as fast as we can find qualified people.”
Tricast has developed a software program that helps insurance companies track pharmaceutical fraud. Algorithms written by Tricast developers find irregularities in pharmaceutical claims —fraudulent prescriptions getting filled or patients receiving the wrong type and amount of certain drugs — and flag them for insurance companies.
The idea is to quickly notify benefit providers of fraud so they can reject those claims. The company experienced a surge in demand from benefit providers over the last two quarters of 2015, according to a statement released by the company last week.
Galas and Tricast Spokesperson Chris Martin hope their program will eventually help reduce insurance rates by reducing costs.
“In the long run we believe we have the ability to do that,” Galas said. “We sell mostly to the health plans and pharmaceutical benefit companies.”
Tricast has worked with the state to reduce fraudulent pharmaceutical claims among Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and also with large insurance companies including Humana, Aetna and Cigna.
Galas said the company is “aggressively” seeking new software developers. Its added office space was designed to house its growing development team. Galas did not put a cap on the number of developers the company plans to hire over the next few months. The company currently employs 40 people.
“If someone walks-in, shakes our hands and wows us, they could have a job at the end of the day,” Galas said.
