Home Health & Hospice Week

NGS is currently subcontractor in the J6 area. Home health agencies who have NHIC as their HHH MAC and deal with National Government Services as NHIC's subcontractor will soon cut out one layer of bureaucracy. NGS has been awarded the Jurisdiction 6 (J6) A/B Medicare Administrative Contract by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, NGS parent Wellpoint Inc. says in a release. The J6 contract includes the Home Health & Hospice MAC duties for Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wisconsin, and Washington. The five-year contract is worth about $273 million, Wellpoint estimates. "Barring any delays ... the implementation activities ... will begin immediately," CMS says in a question-and-answer set about the award at www.cms.gov/MedicareContractingReform/Downloads/J6-and-J8-questions-and-answers-09302011.pdf. A delay could arise if another bidding contractor protests the award. The announcement should add [...]