Health Information Compliance Alert

File cost reports more quickly and easily starting this year.

Get ready for another way to integrate technology into your office's workflow. Medicare's redesigned Provider Statistical and Reimbursement (PS&R) system is making its debut online at www.cms.hhs.gov.

PSRR will take effect July 13,CMS said in a new MLN Matters article at www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM6519.pdf.

"Providers will be responsible to obtain their own PS&R Summary Reports needed to file their cost reports for fiscal years ending January 31, 2009 and later," CMS noted on its PS&R site. "Prior to accessing PS&R, each user must first have an ID and password for CMS' Individuals Authorized Access to CMS Computer Systems (IACS)."

Cost reports for years ending prior to Jan. 31, 2009 will still use the legacy PS&R system, CMS noted in the MLN Matters article. Providers can request detailed reports via the Internet, but their intermediaries or carriers must still send them securely due to their "sensitive data," CMS said. CMS continues to permit contractors to charge for more than one detailed report per year.

Resource: The transmittal is at www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R153FM.pdf.