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12/09/2010

Common Working File (CWF) Unsolicited Response Adjustments for Certain Claims Denied Due to an Open Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Group Health Plan (GHP) Record Where the GHP Record was Subsequently Deleted or Terminated

MLN Matters® Number: MM6625 Revised
Related Change Request (CR) #: 6625
Related CR Release Date: December 3, 2010
Effective Date: April 1, 2011
Related CR Transmittal #: R2112CP
Implementation Date: July 5, 2011

Note: This article was revised on December 6, 2010, to reflect a revision to CR 6625. The implementation date has been changed to July 5, 2011. The CR release date, transmittal number, and the Web address for accessing CR 6625 has been revised. All other information is the same.

Provider Types Affected

Physicians, providers, and suppliers who bill Medicare contractors (fiscal intermediaries (FI), Regional Home Health Intermediaries (RHHI), carriers, Medicare Administrative Contractors (A/B MAC), or Durable Medical Equipment Contractors (DME MAC) for services provided, or supplied, to Medicare beneficiaries.

What You Need to Know

CR 6625, from which this article is taken, instructs Medicare contractors (FIs, RHHIs, carriers, A/B MACS, and DME MACs) and shared system maintainers (SSM) to implement (effective April 1, 2011) an automated process to reopen Group Health Plan (GHP) Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) claims when related MSP data is deleted or terminated after claims were processed subject to the beneficiary record on Medicare’s database. Make sure that your billing staffs are aware of these new Medicare contractor instructions. Please see the Background section, below, for more details.

Background

MSP GHP claims were not automatically reprocessed in situations where Medicare became the primary payer after an MSP GHP record had been deleted or when an MSP GHP record was terminated after claims were processed subject to MSP data in Medicare files. It was the responsibility of the beneficiary, provider, physician or other suppliers to contact the Medicare contractor and request that the denied claims be reprocessed when reprocessing was warranted. However, this process places a burden on the beneficiary, physician, or other supplier and CR 6625 eliminates this burden. As a result of CR 6625, Medicare will implement an automated process to:

  1. Reopen certain MSP claims when certain MSP records are deleted, or
  2. Under some circumstances when certain MSP records are terminated and claims are denied due to MSP or Medicare made a secondary payment before the termination date is accreted.

Basically, where Medicare learns, retroactively, that Medicare Secondary Payer data for a beneficiary is no longer applicable, Medicare will require its systems to search claims history for claims with dates of service within 180 days of a MSP GHP deletion date or the date the MSP GHP termination was applied, which were processed for secondary payment or were denied (rejected for Part A only claims). If claims were processed, the Medicare contractors will reprocess them in view of the more current MSP GHP information and make any claims adjustments that are appropriate. If providers, physicians or other suppliers believe some claim adjustments were missed please contact your Medicare contractor regarding those missing adjustments.

Additional Information

You can find the official instruction, CR 6625, issued to your FI, RHHI, carrier, A/B MAC, or DME MAC by visiting http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/downloads/R2112CP.pdfPDFon the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

If you have any questions, please contact the Provider Contact Center at their toll-free number, (866) 590-6703.

Disclaimer

This article was prepared as a service to the public and is not intended to grant rights or impose obligations. This article may contain references or links to statutes, regulations, or other policy materials. The information provided is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. We encourage readers to review the specific statutes, regulations and other interpretive materials for a full and accurate statement of their contents.

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