Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Get ready for an about face from your Medicare contractor's customer service center. You can now expect concrete improvements under a new customer-service program that should begin Jan. 1 2005, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

A scathing August report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO-04-669) said that after performing hundreds of test calls to 34 call centers, only 4 percent of the responses received were correct and complete (for more information, see MLR Vol. 30, No. 33, p. 6).

Here are the changes that you can expect:

Provider self-service technology tools: With these changes, you'll get interactive voice response units for telephone inquiries, improved Web site options, and electronic copies of provider bulletins that CMS will publish and post quarterly.

Provider contact center improvements: CMS promises an inquiry tracking and triage process, as well as better staffing and training of customer service reps.

Provider Outreach and Education: This includes training tailored for small providers, "ask-the-contractor" teleconferences (ACT) and initiatives aimed at reducing the claims error rate.

To read more go to: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/pm_trans/R113OTN.pdf.