IRIS: What's New

Stay up to date with latest news and updates about the IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) program.

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Wisconsin Medicaid announces IRIS fiscal employer agent—January 2026

The Department of Health Services (DHS) is announcing the “notice of intent” to select Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) as the new IRIS fiscal employer agent (FEA) vendor for the Wisconsin Medicaid IRIS program. The FEA helps IRIS participants in their role as employers by assisting with hiring paperwork, processing payroll, and other employer tasks. In years past, DHS had agreements with multiple IRIS FEA partners. DHS will work with one FEA moving forward.

There are many benefits to having one FEA. One benefit is that all participants, participant-hired workers (PHWs), billing providers, and IRIS consultant agencies will have one consistent process for things like timesheets, billing, and new hire paperwork. DHS anticipates better customer service, including faster vendor response times. Participants and billing providers will also have more access to information about their spending and activities in a secure web portal.

What participants need to know

• No action is needed at this time.
• DHS will begin transferring IRIS participants to the new FEA in 2027.
• For more information about the FEA transition and other IRIS news, sign up to receive “IRIS Program Updates” emails.

How Wisconsin Medicaid chose PPL

Wisconsin uses a fair and competitive review process to select vendors. Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) had the highest scoring proposal among all of the vendors who submitted to provide these fiscal services under RFP S-1640 DMS-25.

Next step

Wisconsin plans to issue the contract for IRIS FEA services to PPL. This announcement on January 29, 2026, reflects our notice of intent.

All organizations that applied to provide IRIS FEA services have 10 days (January 29–February 7) to submit a formal protest if they believe a portion of the evaluation process was conducted in error. If an organization files a formal protest, the final contract will be awarded and onboarding will begin after the protest process is complete or as otherwise permitted by state rules.

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