CMS allows providers to enroll in Medicare with an online application. This system is called the Internet Based Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership System or PECOS
PECOS is available to physicians, non-physician practitioners, and provider and suppliers organizations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has a number of advantages over the paper system, including quicker access to your enrollment status.
After you have completed your enrollment online, you must : Print, Sign, and Date the Certification Statement and mail it along with the required documents within 7 days of your electronic registration. Medicare will not accept any application that is not signed and dated. All signatures must be original - no stamps or copies signatures allowed and CMS recommends that you sign your application in Blue INK.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Standard Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Enrollment Form must also be completed before a provider can submit electronic claims or other EDI transactions to Medicare. Each provider in your group must complete their own EDI application before submitting claims to Medicare on their behalf.
In addition, Medicare will deposit their payments for service directly into your practice account, via electronic transfer. The advantages are similar to any direct deposit system and hopefully your practice software will allow you to auto-post remittances on behalf of your patients directly into your system.
Electronic Fund Transfer paperwork is done through form CMS 588 and is included in your enrollment package. You will need to include a voided check along with this form and most providers can expect to receive their first EFT reimbursement in as little as 2 weeks.
In many cases your software vendor will prepare both the EDI and EDF forms for your practice You will, however, want to check these forms carefully before you submit them to Medicare to make sure that both the NPI and Medicare numbers are correct and that the vendor has included all physicians and non-physician practitioners that will be submitting claims through your practice.
Finally- we are practicing medicine in an every changing environment. We have seen the loss of the consultation codes for both private and hospital claims and the new ICD-10 will be effective in 2013.
It is vital that each practice is constantly aware of these new changes before they are enacted in order to avoid claim rejection, audits, and appeals.
There are 2 publications that I recommend each practice subscribe to that will help you keep abreast of changes in Medicare policy and coding. The first is Medicare Part B News. This monthly publication will not new and upcoming changes in Medicare policy and will prove invaluable to your billing department. You can receive a free trial subscription by logging on to: www.partBnews.com
The second publication comes from The Coding Institute - www.codinginstitute.com. Their monthly newsletters are tailored specifically to your specialty and they offer tips that will assist in billing and predict changes in the insurance market.
Both CMS and The Coding Institute offer a wide variety of seminars that will provide you with billing and coding information so that your practice is always up to date on the latest changes. They also provide a number of excellent tele-conferences that are advertised well in advance.
I recommend that office managers read both the Part B news and The Coding Institute publication and advise their staff in writing of any pending changes.
Don't forget that your software vendor may also provide you with tools for keeping current with CMS changes....
Tomorrow : Review of Systems : What Doctors Don't Know
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