Articles and Blogs

Oregon election officials took iPads into nursing homes in five Oregon counties for Tuesday’s election.  This effort was under a small pilot program designed to enable the state’s elderly and disabled population to vote.  The iPad was able to accommodate various disabilities, including enlarged font sizes and audible ballot reading for vision impaired voters, and... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has released instructions to prospective Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”) for applying to the Shared Savings Program. The application process has both automated and paper options, but CMS strongly recommends using the automated application system. All organizations wanting to participate in the Shared Savings Program must submit a... READ MORE

A Medicare beneficiary is not liable for custodial care services rendered by a Mississippi nursing home because the facility failed to give adequate notice the services were not covered by Medicare, a federal appeals court panel ruled on October 25.  The case (Mississippi Care Center of Morton LLC, Sebelius, 5th Cir., No. 10-60595, Oct.... READ MORE

Current regulations (42 C.F.R 424.510(e)(1),(2)) require providers and suppliers to agree to receive Medicare payments via Electronic Funds Transfer (“EFT”) at the time of enrollment, revalidation, change of Medicare contractors or submission of an enrollment change request.  Additionally, the provider or supplier must submit a CMS-588 form to receive Medicare payment via EFT.  Section 1104... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has posted a listing of providers who have already been sent a request to revalidate their Medicare enrollment information.  The listing contains the name and National Provider Identifier (“NPI”) of each provider, as well as the date the letter was sent.  Providers on the list, but... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has made changes to the Medicare Overpayment Notification Process.  If an outstanding balance has not been resolved, providers previously received three notification letters regarding the overpayments:  (1) an initial demand letter, (2) a follow-up letter, and then (3) an intent to refer letter.  CMS would send the second... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has reevaluated the revalidation requirements in the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), and believe the ACA allows for the extension of the revalidation period for an additional two years.  This will extend the deadline for revalidation through March of 2015.  Providers are reminded that if they have... READ MORE

The National Supplier Clearinghouse (“NSC”) has recently indicated it is aware that numerous Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (“DMEPOS”) suppliers are having issues with viewing and/or submitting revalidation information through the web-based Provider Enrollment Chain Ownership System (“PECOS”). NSC has indicated that the majority of these issues are due to information discrepancies... READ MORE

The Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program Round 2 and the national mail-order competitions are coming soon. Though the bidding schedule has not yet been released, suppliers interested in bidding should begin their preparations now to help avoid unnecessary delays or rejection of a bid application. Any supplier who... READ MORE

On October 31, 2011, the final rule (Rule) to update the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) for Calendar Year 2012 was published in the Federal Register.  As a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implementing the Rule, home health agencies (HHAs) will experience a decrease in payments of... READ MORE