But Region D slowed, Region C in limbo thanks to protest.
In 18 states and the District of Columbia, "DMERC" will be an acronym of the past come July 1.
On that date, two durable medical equipment Medicare administrative contractors (DME MACs)--National Heritage Insurance Company Inc. and AdminaStar Federal--will each assume full responsibility for the work of their assigned geographic jurisdictions, taking over from the durable medical equipment regional carriers (DMERCs).
National Heritage will serve suppliers in Jurisdiction A, which includes Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachu-setts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Its Web site is
www.medicarenhic.com/dme/index.shtml.
AdminaStar Federal will serve suppliers in Jurisdiction B: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Its Web site is
www.adminastar.com/Providers/DMERC/ContractorReform/ContractorReform.html.
Contract disputes have held up the transition to the DME MACs in jurisdictions C and D, reports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XV, No. 9). But Noridian Admini-strative Services should be able to assume full responsibilities for the Jurisdiction D by the end of 2006.
"At the current time, no transition activity is occurring with respect to the DME MAC for Jurisdiction C, nor is there any activity with respect to implementing the four contract options," CMS says.
• It may get harder to figure out whether your contractor has received your appeal request, under newly manualized changes to the Medicare appeals process. CMS no longer requires intermediaries and carriers to send acknowledgement letters for requests for Hearing Officer hearings, CMS says in a June 16 transmittal (CR 5058).
The transmittal also makes other changes to the appeals portion of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, including adding a question on overpayments to the reconsideration request form; eliminating contractors' requirement to notify Qualified Independent Contractors of effectuation amounts; and clarifying the Medicare Appeals Council's options in reviewing Administrative Law Judge decisions and dismissals.
The transmittal is at
www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R985CP.pdf. • Medical abbreviations kill thousands of people per year, according to the Food & Drug Administration. The FDA is joining with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices to stamp out providers' abbreviations on medical notes.
Among the killers are the letters "IU," which stands for "international unit" but could be mistaken for "intravenous." Also, your clinicians should write a zero before a decimal point, as in "0.4 ml." And it's easy to mix up "Q.D.," meaning once per day, with "Q.O.D.," meaning "every other day," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. • If you leave the patient status code off a 34X TOB claim, expect it to bounce back to you. "Patient status codes must be entered on page 1 of a claim in the FISS and DDE systems for 34X Home Health Type of Bill [...]
