PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2017
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS
Media Inquiries
CMS waives provider screening requirements
in TX, LA during Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) today approved suspending certain Medicare enrollment
screening requirements for healthcare providers and suppliers that are
assisting with Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts in areas impacted in Texas
and Louisiana.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said the agency
has established a hotline for healthcare providers in the two impacted
states to enroll in the federal health programs and receive temporary
Medicare billing privileges.
Verma said: “This is an unprecedented
opportunity to work with health care providers to put our patients and
people with Medicare benefits first. While we have heard from providers in
these states that are willing and able to help, we know that by temporarily
relaxing these and other Medicare provider and supplier enrollment
requirements, we can make the services of skilled professionals more
readily available to those in need., We are working to ensure that doctors,
facilities, suppliers and their teams are in place to help those impacted
by damage from Hurricane Harvey.”
The new toll free Hotline Telephone
Number: 1-855-247-8428
Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET
Under its waiver authorities CMS established a
toll-free hotline servicing Medicare’s Part B providers and suppliers in
Texas and Louisiana. The hotline is intended for non-certified Part B
providers and other practitioners to initiate provisional temporary
Medicare billing privileges. Novitas Solutions, a Medicare Administrative
Contractor (MAC), will work to assist providers in both states to
temporarily enroll health care providers. To assist in this effort CMS is
waiving the following enrollment requirements:
1.
Payment of the application fee (42 C.F.R 424.514)
2.
Finger print based criminal background checks (FCBC- 42 C.F.R
Section 424.518)
3.
Site visits – (42 C.F.R Section 424.510)
4.
In-state licensure requirements (42 C.F.R Section 424.510)
Verma said that beginning Monday, Sept.11, 2017, providers will be able
to initiate temporary Medicare billing privileges over-the-phone and on the
same day. Anyone calling today (Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017) through Friday,
Sept. 8, 2017, will receive a return call Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, to be
enrolled over the phone.
In addition, CMS is:
·
Exercising waiver authority to allow providers who are not
currently enrolled to initiate temporary billing privileges by providing
limited information, including, but not limited to, National Provider
Identifier (NPI), Social Security Number (SSN) or a business Employer
Identification Number taxpayer identification numbers (SSN/EIN/TIN), and
valid in-state or out-of-state licensure.
·
Temporarily ceasing revalidation efforts for Medicare
providers located in Texas, Louisiana and areas otherwise directly impacted
by Hurricane Harvey.
·
Lifting the temporary enrollment moratorium in Texas on Part B
non-emergency ambulance suppliers. The agency has authority to lift an
enrollment moratorium at any time if the President declares an area a
disaster under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act. CMS has carefully reviewed the potential impact of
continued moratorium in Texas and the decision to lift the temporary
enrollment moratoria on Part B non-emergency ambulance suppliers in Texas
was made to expedite aid in the disaster response. CMS is working to
publish a notice in the Federal Register to announce the lifting of the
moratoria.
·
Waiving
the practice location reporting requirements and not taking administrative
actions with respect to providers who fail to notify them of their
temporary practice location via the CMS-855. This temporary process
will remain in effect from the declared disaster effective dates (August
25, 2017 for Texas and August 28, 2017 for Louisiana) until the disaster
designation is lifted, after which the provider shall resume all reporting
requirements. If the temporary location is still being utilized until
the previous location is re-established, it must be reported to the MAC via
the appropriate CMS-855.
CMS will continue to work with Texas and
Louisiana in their recovery. The agency continues to update its emergency
page (www.cms.gov/emergency)
with important information for state and local
officials, providers, healthcare facilities and the public.
To read previous updates regarding HHS activities related to Hurricane
Harvey, please visit https://www.hhs.gov/about/news.
To learn more about HHS resources related to Hurricane Harvey, please
visit https://www.hhs.gov/hurricane-harvey.
###
|
No comments:
Post a Comment