The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued instructions to Medicare carriers about the process for physicians to enroll as either participating or nonparticipating physicians for 2003. These instructions indicate that the period of time for physicians to make their decisions about 2003 Medicare participation will run from Jan. 9 - Feb. 28. The instructions further state, however, that the material carriers are now mailing to physicians was printed in October 2002, before Medicare announced the delay in the payment rule and its effective date of March 1, 2003. As a result, the dates on the printed material which physicians will be receiving in the mail this week will say that the participation decision period ended in December 2002.
The carrier instructions regarding how claims for
services in January-February 2003 will be processed and paid also may cause some confusion
for medical practices. An update will be issued once CMS has clarified the
participation decision process and claims payment issues. Compounding these problems, CMS
has not instructed its carriers to mail material to physicians with the correct dates. CMS
has instead instructed carriers to make the correct date information available through
their Internet sites and similar venues. Anticipating that receipt of the
mailed material with incorrect dates could cause a great deal of confusion for physicians,
CMS has been asked to provide the correct information to physicians and carriers, as well
as to provide clear information about submission and payment of 2003 claims.