PECOS Enrollment Due Before July 2010 |
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A physician Medicare compliance deadline set for January 2011 has been moved to July 2010. An interim final rule that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in May 2010 indicates that a mandate in the new health care reform law forced the deadline change. Physicians who have not opted out of Medicare need to be enrolled in the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) by July if they want to continue seeing or referring Medicare patients for most items and services. Many physicians who are not in PECOS signed up for Medicare before the system’s launch in 2003. CMS offers an online enrollment process. In addition to the deadline change noted above, The Recovery Act of 2009 established CMS programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the “meaningful use” of certified EHR technology. These EHR incentive programs will provide incentive payments to eligible professionals and eligible hospitals as they demonstrate adoption, implementation, upgrading or meaningful use of certified EHR technology. While more detail on the EHR incentive program is forthcoming in the an impending final rule, CMS is announcing that Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) records will be used to verify Medicare enrollment prior to making Medicare EHR incentive payments. Your enrollment information must be in PECOS, so act now if you do not have an enrollment record in this system. Enrolled in Medicare before November 2003? If you are a physician who enrolled in Medicare before November 2003 AND have not updated your Medicare enrollment information since then, you do NOT have an enrollment record in PECOS. Act now to establish your enrollment record in PECOS. For instructions, go to http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/04_InternetbasedPECOS.asp click on “Tips to Facilitate the Medicare Enrollment Process” under “Downloads.” If you enrolled in Medicare after November 2003, or if you enrolled before November 2003 and have updated your Medicare enrollment information since November 2003, Uno further action is requiredU. If you are unsure, here are ways to verify that you have an enrollment record in PECOS:
Contact your designated Medicare enrollment contractor and ask if you have an enrollment record in PECOS. Go to http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/04_InternetbasedPECOS.asp click on “Medicare Fee-For-Service Contact Information” under “Downloads.” Note: If you have submitted an enrollment application within the last 90 days, and your enrollment application has been accepted for processing by the carrier or A/B MAC, you need not take any additional actions based on this listserv message. NOTE for physicians who reassign all their Medicare benefits to a group/clinic: If you reassign all of your Medicare benefits to a group/clinic, the group/clinic must have an enrollment record in PECOS in order for you to enroll using Internet-based PECOS. You should check with the officials of the group/clinic or with your designated Medicare enrollment contractor if you are not sure if the group/clinic has an enrollment record in PECOS. If the group/clinic does not have an enrollment record in PECOS, you will not be able to use Internet-based PECOS to submit your enrollment application to Medicare. You will need to submit a paper enrollment application (CMS-855). Information on how to establish an enrollment record in PECOS can be found at http://questions.cms.hhs.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/9909 on the CMS website. |
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