New procedures mandated by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 will soon offer quicker resolution to appeals by Medicare beneficiaries, providers and suppliers.
The Medicare hearings function, currently handled by the Social Security Administration (SSA), will transition on July 1, 2005 to the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The changes will help ensure that fee-for-service Medicare claims appeals are resolved within the 90-day timeframe mandated by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA). HHS anticipates it can reduce hearing timeframes to comply with the BIPA requirements by using video teleconferencing technology (VTC) with a state-of-the-art electronic hearings process to provide significantly more access points than currently exist. HHS has access to VTC sites in over 1,000 cities nationwide. More information is available at www.hhs.gov/omha