Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Wondering how CMS was going to get nearly every provider in the country revalidated by 2013? You weren't alone. CMS has reconsidered its ambitious revalidation finalization date, changing it to 2015.

"We had an original timeline of starting sometime in September of this year and having this effort run through March 2013," said CMS's Zabeen Chong during a Nov. 7 Open Door Forum. "CMS has reevaluated this timeline, and to ease the burden on the providers and the contractors, the timeline has now been extended to March 2015."

Chong added that the date extension won't give you extra time if you already received a revalidation request. "I do want to note this does not affect those providers that have already received a revalidation notice," she added. If you have a notice in-hand, you do need to complete it within the prescribed timeline. If, however, you have not heard from your MAC about revalidation, you should sit tight. You may not hear from your contractor for a few years.

Conflict alert: The advice that Chong shared during the Nov. 7 call conflicts with news that some MACs have disseminated. For instance, on Nov. 8, Part B carrier NGS Medicare sent an email blast stating, "There has been no delay to 2015 that has been formally announced by CMS."

In black and white: CMS did, however, put the time extension in writing with MLN Matters SE1126, which was revised on Nov. 1 and states, "Revalidation notices will now be sent through March of 2015." You can read the article at www.cms.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/se1126.pdf.

Many practices complained to CMS about their concern that perhaps a revalidation notice was sent to their practice but they didn't get it. And because practices that don't complete their revalidation requests in time could face getting their provider numbers deactivated, some physicians want to find out just where they are in the revalidation process. CMS has remedied this issue by debuting a new database that should quell these concerns.

"In response to provider requests, CMS has posted a listing of providers who have been sent a request to revalidate their Medicare enrollment information," CMS announced on Nov. 9. "The listing contains the name and NPI of each provider sent a letter, as well as the date the letter was sent."

To access the database, visit www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/11_Revalidations.asp and click on "Revalidation Phase 1 Listing -- CSV format."