Home Health & Hospice Week

 If you get a request for fingerprints from your MAC, take it seriously.

Medicare Administrative Contractors have begun sending letters to providers and suppliers, listing all owners who are required to be fingerprinted, HHH MAC Palmetto GBA says on its website. “Identified individuals have 30 days from the date of the letter to be fingerprinted. Failure to comply with the fingerprint requirements could result in denial of your Medicare enrollment application or revocation of your Medicare billing privileges,” Palmetto warns.

Where to look: “The letters are being mailed to the provider or supplier’s correspondence address and the special payments address on file with Medicare,” Palmetto says.

Reminder: Under a rule published in February 2011, “fingerprint-based background checks are required for all individuals with a five percent or greater ownership interest in a provider or supplier that falls into the high risk category and is currently enrolled in Medicare or has submitted an initial enrollment application,” Palmetto says.