Finding Hidden Coverage: The PAID Act

Did you know that Medicare has data on its beneficiaries’ Medicare Advantage Plans, Medicare Supplemental Plans, Medicare Part D Drug Plans, and even Medicaid coverage? Currently, CMS does not provide that additional coverage information to either plaintiffs (and their attorneys) or defendants in the Non-Group Health Plan realm. The Medicare Advocacy Recovery Coalition (“MARC”) is…

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CMS Update on Regional Office Move

Update from CMS: The Philadelphia Regional Office is Moving Keeping you up to date on all things CMS! The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the Philadelphia, PA Regional Office is moving. The new contact information is below: 801 Market Street Suite 9400 Philadelphia PA 19107-3132 215-861-4178 If you need assistance…

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Medicare Numbers Transition: Begins April 1

Medicare is finally transitioning its beneficiary ID numbers (known as Health Insurance Claim Numbers, or, HICNs) beginning April 1, 2018. This change is required by a 2015 law, and Medicare first announced this transition nearly a year ago on May 31, 2017. See our previous blog post on this topic by clicking here. How will the…

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Medicare Reporting Guidelines – 2018 Update

CMS has released its annual SMART Act report to Congress. The report includes the usual updates you’d expect, namely, cost of recovery data and reporting thresholds. Reporting Thresholds First, CMS has updated 2018 Mandatory Insurer Reporting and plaintiff-settlement reporting thresholds. Any settlement below these amounts needs not be reported by defendants (or, “primary payers”) and…

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Medicare & The Upside Down (Case)

Sometimes we refer to a case where fees and costs exceed settlement as “upside down.” An Indianapolis firm asked us: can a Medicare Plan (meaning Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplemental Plan) claim a lien in the upside down world? No. Medicare Advantage Plan liens claim their rights exist from the same laws that allow Medicare…

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Ahlborn is Back – Retroactively. What it Means.

Nearly every trial lawyer association has put out an alert by now: “Ahlborn is back!” “Permanent & Retroactive Ahlborn ‘Fix’” “Ahlborn… Resurrected?!” You get it. We get it. Everybody gets it. Ahlborn, it’s a thing again. But what does that mean for you? First – a quick history. The Ahlborn case involved the plaintiff arguing…

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CMS’s New Medicare Set-Aside Contractor

CMS can finally move forward with its new Medicare Set-Aside (“MSA”) contractor. While that contract was awarded in September, two organizations challenged that award arguing that CMS “unreasonably failed to permit offerors to make oral presentations and failed to conduct discussions.” More interesting, Arch Systems, LLC argued that the agency “failed to reasonably evaluate the…

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New CMS Contractor Coming February 2018

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that a new Commercial Repayment Center (CRC) Contractor, Performant Recovery, Inc. will take over CRC duties on February 8, 2018. Performant will assume responsibility for conditional payment recoveries from no-fault insurers and workers’ compensation entities. CMS will be presenting webinars on the transition on January…

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Join Massive for a Lien Resolution CLE Presentation

Ahmad Zeki, Director of Business Development at Massive, will be presenting to the Inland Counties Association of Paralegals on Wednesday, January 17, 2018. The topic is ‘Lien Resolution and Future Medicals: The Ever-changing World of Liens & Future Medicals and How to Deal with Them.’ Dealing with lien claims management is frustrating and tedious. Each lien requires…

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Massive Supports the M&L Winter Legal Forum

Massive Managing Partner Todd Franklin will be attending the M&L Winter Legal Forum Marketing conference January 10-13, 2018 in Costa Rica! As long time supporters of M&L, we are excited to contribute to this collaborative group dedicated to success. Massive is the country’s most accurate and reliable lien resolution company, quickly resolving healthcare liens with Medicare, Medicaid, Private Insurance, ERISA, Military and VA.…

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