Monthly Archives: July 2012

Jul
11
2012

Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Portal Step-by-Step Review Pt. 1

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After signing up for the new Medicare Secondary Payer Portal website last Thursday, I was disappointed to learn that to complete the sign up, you have to wait for CMS to send you a code, which you use to to finish registration. Boo.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the code in the mail today, just three business days after I started the registration process. CMS must have automated the letter delivery process. Yea!

I hurriedly entered the code with visions of accessing my client’s claim history with ease, only to find another unwelcome layer of bureaucracy. When the code is entered, you are directed to print out an agreement, sign it, and send it back by email, fax or mail. I opted for email. But that still means a person has to do something for me to get full access, which means more time. Boo.

I’ll post when I’m “approved” to take the next step…let’s hope it’s the last.

Jul
03
2012

MSP Recovery Portal is Up and Running

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The Center for Medicare Services (CMS) has just premiered it’s new Secondary Payer Recovery Portal, which promises to streamline the delivery of crucial information attorneys need to protect their clients in a personal injury recovery.

For years, the MSPRC has struggled to deliver the lien information attorneys need when resolving their clients’ injury claims. Hours on hold and months for written responses were the norms attorneys suffered with when trying to comply with Medicare’s antiquated reimbursement process. Recently, CMS let the contract with the vendor that had been administering the reimbursement process expire, letting another vendor take over the duties temporarily. The result was immediate: better response times and more efficient lien resolution. But the problems of the past still plagued the process.

Last year, CMS announced that it was developing a web-based portal, similar to its popular MyMedicare.gov website, which would give beneficiaries and their representatives instant access to information that traditionally took months to receive.

Today the registration process has opened and anyone with a Medicare reimbursement obligation (or a client with one) can register for access. A username and temporary password will then be mailed to the registrant, so I cannot provide any feedback about the portal itself, but this promises to be another step in the right direction for CMS when it comes to lien resolution.

Stay tuned – I will follow up on this post when I have had the chance to test drive the system. If you’re like me and register right away and let me know what you think.