Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

PHYSICIAN NOTES :

CMS Changes Course: Physicians Need Not Personally Complete PECOS Application

Plus: Check out CCI 15.1s retroactive deletions to keep reimbursement flowing.

What a difference three months makes, especially when it comes to CMS requirements for filling out its Internet-based Provider Enrollment,Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) forms.

Old way: During a Jan. 13 CMS open-door forum, Medicare officials relayed the frustrating news that physicians or non-physician practitioners (NPPs) had to personally fill out their PECOS enrollment forms -- they were not able to designate an employee or third-party billing service to do the work on their behalf.

New way: CMS changed its tune this week, with an April 1 press release from Valerie Haugen, a director with CMS,announcing that the person filling out the PECOS form may be an employee of the provider or supplier organization, or an employee of a separate organization.

The only catch: The designated employee must complete a security consent form, which the employer must sign. More than one person may be approved to use Internet-based PECOS on behalf of a given provider or supplier organization,but the security consent form is completed only one time, the CMS release indicated.

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