Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

If your Medicare appeal gets the reject stamp, it’s likely due to a missing or incorrect bar code.

Medicare Administrative Carrier Cahaba GBA recently offered guidance on its website concerning a rise in the number of improperly filed appeals smart forms. Many Part B providers are “downloading or copying” the form “to submit their appeal request,” the MAC says. But the bar codes on the download are different from the bar codes that are generated during the submission process, which confuses the system.

“Please note, when smart forms are downloaded or copied, the bar code does not change on the form, and as a result, the incorrect patient/claim information is submitted,” Cahaba advises. “Please access the form from Cahaba’s website each time an appeal needs to be submitted. Providers should complete the form online, print it, sign the form, and fax/mail to Cahaba.”

The MAC suggests that to avoid future issues that providers are encouraged to access and submit appeals requests through its InSite portal. “InSite saves time and reduces human error by eliminating the need for the request to be scanned, transmitted to the Appeals department, and then indexed,” the guidances notes.

Resource: To log into Cahaba Part B’s InSite portal, visit  >https://insite.cahabagba.com/insite/start.swe?SWECmd=Login&SWECM=S&SWEHo=insite.cahabagba.com.