Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

If you find Medicare’s current provider enrollment process to be complicated and confusing, you’re in luck. A system redesign is in the making and slated for a summer release.

Details: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it was updating its Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS) to make the application process more efficient. The launch is scheduled for June 2023 and will include a more modern design.

PECOS 2.0 will offer providers the following upgrades, according to a CMS fact sheet on the change:

• Use one consolidated application with the option to do multiple enrollments with a national profile.
• Easy transfer of pre-existing provider information to the new system.
• Utilize better revalidation tools, quicker application turnaround time, and “real-time status tracking.”
• Offer “tailored” applications and improved tools for group practice enrollment.

A “knowledge base” will be available to help providers with the PECOS 2.0 transition, but know that both your Identity & Access (I&A) username and password and Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) will stay the same, CMS says.

Heads up: PECOS may be down for an indeterminate amount of time during the transition process, so CMS advises Medicare providers to stay abreast of changes. Paper applications are currently still being accepted.

Find the fact sheet at www.cms.gov/files/document/ pecos-20-faqs.pdf and review other PECOS 2.0 guidance at www.cms.gov/medicare/provider-enrollment-and-certification/ introducing-pecos-20#new-features.