Maximus Inc.

From 2010 to 2013, Maximus acquired Denver-based Policy Studies Incorporated (PSI) to increase its capacity to serve government clients in the US and expanded into clinical assessment services with the acquisition of Ascend. From a global perspective, 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, expanding the Maximus federal technology business.

In 2018, after twelve years as CEO, Richard Montoni announced his retirement and the company appointed President Bruce Caswell to the position of chief executive officer. Caswell articulated a strategic plan focusing the company's activities on helping governments advance digitally-enabled customer service, modernizing technology capabilities and expansion of clinical services delivery. In November 2018, Maximus acquired U.S. Federal citizen engagement center assets from another government contractor (GDIT) for $400 million in cash.

In September 2020, Maximus hired Dr. Arvenita Washington Cherry as Senior Director of DE&I to lead diversity and inclusion activities in its workforce.

In 2021, Maximus completed three additional transactions. Maximus and Navient announced the two companies signed a definitive agreement to transfer the loan servicing for 5.6 million U.S. Department of Education-owned student loan accounts through a contract novation, creating a new operating entity, Aidvantage. Maximus acquired Attain, a technology integration company, and Veterans Evaluation Services (VES), a clinical assessments company. In January 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs re-awarded VES, a Maximus company, contracts through 2026 for domestic regions 1 – 4 which collectively span the continental U.S. to continue providing medical disability exams services through the Veterans Benefit Administration.

In May 2022, Maximus relocated its headquarters to Tysons, Virginia in new office space that was reported to incorporate "many of the post-pandemic office designs that architects and companies are emphasizing."

In September 2022, after a 3-year long competitive procurement process, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded Maximus a 10 year contract that extended its existing role as lead operator of citizen contact centers, including 1-800-MEDICARE. In December 2023, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced it would be recompeting this contract for the express purpose of inserting a labor harmony agreement. In November 2024, CMS decided to halt efforts to rebid its contract with Maximus. Some observers, including 17 state attorneys general, noted that there was little precedent for ending an ongoing contract and introducing new labor harmony provisions. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the incoming chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, stated, 'The Maximus contract should never have ended in the first place,' and expressed concerns that the administration's actions were aimed at promoting unionization among call-center employees.

The Maximus Foundation

The Maximus Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Funding is provided by charitable gifts from Maximus employees and supplemented by grants from the company. The foundation contributes to programs helping disadvantaged individuals achieve self-sufficiency, particularly programs serving children. The Chairman of the Foundation is president and General Manager of Maximus Federal Services, John Boyer.

In 2009, the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation used a grant 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 (SoBRO) used grant money from the Maximus Foundation to start the Greenhouse Roof Operation (GRO), a program to teach disadvantaged youth vocational skills through the construction and operation of a hydroponic farm. That same year, the Maximus Foundation awarded over $100,000 in grants for Washington D.C non-profit organizations benefitting children.

In 2013, the Maximus Foundation contributed $29,000 to Nepal Earthquake Relief through Project HOPE and in 2015, provided back-to-school supplies to 2,000 low-income children in Austin, Texas, such as socks and a brand-new backpack with school supplies.

In 2015, the Foundation announced that it distributed approximately $390,000 in grants to 121 nonprofit organizations in 22 states. Grantees included CASA of Los Angeles and the Community Health Centers of Burlington.

The Maximus Foundation helped fund the work of four high school students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, to develop Atheia, a new technology to assist those with vision problems.

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.

COVID-19 Response

In March 2020, Maximus began working with government agencies in the United States at the federal, state, and local level to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic response. This work initially included providing testing results and conducting contact tracing, in states such as Arizona and Indiana. In September 2020, Maximus announced the creation of Maximus Public Health to establish citizen engagement centers and support “efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and toward the purchasing and distribution of vaccines."

In 2021, Maximus shifted its focus to vaccine distribution. The company worked directly with states, like Colorado, to provide information to residents and schedule vaccine appointments. In May 2021, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced it had selected Maximus to “support a national hotline program" for vaccine distribution.

Welfare and Safety Net

National governments, state agencies, and local governments administer and deliver programs that address complex social challenges like poverty and health equity. Maximus supports agencies in this area, offering services such as welfare-to-work programs, including Ticket to Work, as well as support for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Refugee Support Services.

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 child support enforcement and other child support services. In 2009, the company won a five-year contract to collect and enforce child-support collections in Shelby County, Tennessee. Maximus launched Project NOW (Negotiating Outstanding Warrants), 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.

Maximus provides support for the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions. 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 provides support for the U.S. Department of Education’s student debt management and collection system and student loan counseling for the Federal Student Loan program. Maximus Federal Services is a contractor to FSA for DMS (Default Management System) one of the systems used to process student loan defaults.

Citizen services

Governments offer a variety of other services – passports and drivers licensing, disaster and recovery administration, travel assessments, census administration, etc. – for citizens.

Maximus’s services in this area have included support for:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

The 2020 Census

Federal/National Agencies

Maximus supports federal/national agencies in the design, implementation, and management of business processes and enabling technologies to achieve specific programmatic missions. This includes support for the Defense Information Systems Agency, Energy Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Maximus also contracts with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to modernize the agency's technology infrastructure and provides NextGen Business Process Operations Support Services for the Department of Education.

July 2007- Maximus settled a lawsuit brought against it by the United States government for involvement in falsifying Medicaid claims for $30.5 million. Maximus did not admit or deny the government's allegations in the legal case.

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- A Maximus manager on the MassHealth project and had access to the personal information of enrollees in the MassHealth program, who had passed the Massachusetts-required CORI background check, was revealed to have pleaded no contest to a Florida felony by Boston-based Fox25. A subsequent review by Maximus found “no reason to believe that anyone’s personal information was used inappropriately” and terminated the employee.

September 2011- Maximus Inc. was sued by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 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.

January 2013- A Maximus employee 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. She was convicted in December 2013.

February 2013 In his February 2013 report, the British Columbia auditor general said that Maximus 10-year contract with BC Health lacked adequate monitoring and had not brought the "expected benefits" it had promised. Major deadlines were not met and no penalties were laid. Desktop and laptops were not replaced as often as agreed upon. Even after almost a decade, privacy issues had not been dealt with adequately. BC Health relies solely on the company to self-report breaches. Subcontractors were not given security audits. As well, auditing does not “provide assurance that data access and storage are limited to Canada and that the data can be segregated from the service provider’s parent companies.”

April 2021 An investigation by NPR and The Marshall Project found that many U.S. states were involved in the following practice, using Maximus as enabler and facilitator:

"Social Security pays benefits to children who have significant disabilities, when their parents are disabled, or if a parent has died. When the check goes to a minor, someone is designated as the representative payee, trusted to use that money in the best interest of the child. States routinely take that money to cover the cost of foster care, even though there are already state and federal sources to pay for it and even though other impoverished children and youth who don't get Social Security checks aren't responsible for paying for their foster care." Maximus was found to be among the consulting companies that were hired by states—including Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Maryland, and South Carolina—to locate foster children eligible to receive disability and other checks from Social Security and register them, for the sole purpose of generating revenue for the states. Even after these foster children aged out of the foster care program, they were not able to get the Social Security funds to which they were entitled. Law professor Daniel L. Hatcher criticized the practice in his book The Poverty Industry.

March 2022 A report by the Student Borrower Protection Center and the Communications Workers of America noted consumer complaints filed against Aidvantage in relation to federal student loans, and accused Maximus, its parent company, of mismanagement.

In 2022 and 2023 Maximus workers were involved in actions to demonstrate against labor conditions and for improved pay, following employee layoffs.