Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Plus: Reassigning benefits? You need a new form for that. 

CMS has extended its deadline for the last Meaningful Use (MU) attestation before it goes away for most Medicare providers under MACRA and the Quality Payment Program. Advancing Care Information is replacing MU as the technical component under the new payment system, and CEHRT measures will be reported under it. 

The original deadline to report 2016 measures was Feb. 28, 2017, but has been changed to Mon. March 13, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. E.T., a CMS release from Feb. 8, 2017 says.

Payment adjustments will be made for those that get their attestations in late as the hardship deadline has come and gone. 

Medicaid and hospitals that utilize MU programs will not be impacted by the changes.

For the MU registration and attestation link, visit https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/ehrincentiveprograms/registrationandattestation.html. 

In the news …

CMS revised its reassignment of benefits form, and the new form (CMS-855R) went live on Jan. 1, 2017. The Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will no longer take the old one. 

“Reassigning your Medicare benefits allows an eligible supplier to submit claims and receive payment for Medicare Part B services that you have provided,” Novitas Solutions says in its guidance on reassigning.

But, remember if you are giving an organization the right to bill for services you’ve rendered, you might want to check-in occasionally to ensure the claims are on the up-and-up.

Get the new form here: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/Downloads/cms855r.pdf.