Effective September 1, 2008, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will stop utilizing four (4) of the current workers' Compensation regional offices. These offices are currently located in New York, Atlanta, Kansas City and Denver.
Six (6) workers' compensation regional offices will remain in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle. As a result of this reorganization, the regions handled by each of the remaining offices have been realigned. A list of the workers' compensation Regional Office Contacts and the territory covered by each office as of September 1, 2008 is provided by clicking on the 'full story' link below.
We continue to monitor CMS changes and will update this news story as additional information becomes available.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced certain key
proposals outlining the manner in which it intends to implement the notice and
reporting requirements of Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Act of
2007 (MMSEA). This announcement was made by CMS through the Federal Register. In
conjunction therewith, CMS has also released a “Supporting Statement” which
provides detailed information regarding other aspects related to implementation
of Section 111 of the MMSEA.
Through the release of the proposed
guidelines, CMS has taken major strides in providing the industry with the
framework it intends to implement to enforce the notice and reporting
requirements of Section 111 of the MMSEA.
Additional Information
& Related Links:
Settlement News, August 2008 - provides an
overview of CMS' proposed guidelines http://www.nuquestbridgepointe.com/news/uploads/august_2008_settlement_news.pdf
Federal
Register, August 1, 2008 http://www.nuquestbridgepointe.com/news/uploads/federal_register_8_1_08.pdf
CMS
Supporting Summary http://www.nuquestbridgepointe.com/news/uploads/cms-supporting_statement.pdf
CMS
Mandatory Insurer Reporting website: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MandatoryInsRep/
The National Alliance of Medicare Set-Aside Professionals (NAMSAP) has requested
consideration of a number of industry comments in regard to a request for
information for the Workers' Compensation Review Center (WCRC) function.
The
membership shared concerns regarding what it considers inappropriate and/or
inefficient review practices by the WCRC in order to assist CMS in making
an informed decision regarding Scope of Work issues.
The industry comments submitted to CMS can be found by clicking on
'Full Story' below.
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CMS has issued policy regardig the exclusive use of the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) Table 1, (All American Table) when determining life expectancy in
Workers Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSA) proposals.
Effective
with WCMSA submissions received by the CMS Coordination of Benefits
Contract (COBC) on or after July 1, 2008, CMS will only use the CDC Table
1, "Life table for the total population" in its WCMSA review process
and will only accept life expectancies obtained
from this table.
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