Home Health & Hospice Week

Home care providers have won a little breathing room on their Medicare revalidations -- but only if they're enrolled in PECOS. CMS "has reevaluated the revalidation requirement in the Affordable Care Act, and believe[s] it affords the flexibility to extend the revalidation period for another 2 years," the agency says in an e-mail message to providers. "Revalidation notices will now be sent through March of 2015" instead of March 2013.

That means providers that haven't yet received revalidation requests may not see them for years. But if you've already received a revalidation notice, you need to respond to it, CMS stresses.

If you aren't enrolled in PECOS, you are on the list for providers who have already received notices, CMS notes. The notices were sent to your special payments and primary practice addresses.

Do this: "If you believe you are not in PECOS and have not yet received a revalidation letter, contact your Medicare contractor," CMS instructs. You won't be off the hook if you lost the notice or it went to the wrong address because you neglected to update your location information.

A list of providers who have been sent requests is available on CMS's website at www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/11_Revalidations. asp -- scroll down to the "Downloads" section. CMS has sent about 8,900 revalidation letters so far, reports the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. It will send about 1.5 million more.

Providers who don't complete the revalidation application within the allotted 60 days will have their billing privileges deactivated (rather than revoked) after CMS has made two contact attempts, NAHC notes. That means that once the contractor has received a completed revalidation application, the provider's billing privileges will be reactivated, the trade group explains.