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Posting Date: 02/20/2020
April 2020 Release "Dark Days" for the Common Working File Hosts
April 2020 Release "Dark Days" for the Common Working File Hosts For the upcoming April 2020 Release: For Production, CWF will be observing dark days starting Friday, 4/3/2020 through Sunday, 4/5/2020 to accommodate the anticipated duration [...]
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Posting Date: 10/19/2020
Evaluation and Management: Anticipated Changes for Office and Outpatient Services in 2021
Evaluation and Management: Anticipated Changes for Office and Outpatient Services in 2021 Pending confirmation in the upcoming CMS 2021 Final Rule, NGS is reminding Part B providers of expected changes to E/M guidelines for office and [...]
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Posting Date: 12/07/2020
Annual Participation Enrollment Period Extended to January 31, 2021
Annual Participation Enrollment Period Extended to January 31, 2021 NOTE: CMS is extending the 2021 Annual Participation Enrollment Program. The participation enrollment period will now end 1/31/2021, instead of 12/31/2020. Posted 12/7/2020
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Posting Date: 06/18/2020
Retirement of Noncovered Services and Category III CPT Codes LCDs and Articles
Retirement of Noncovered Services and Category III CPT Codes LCDs and Articles Effective 7/1/2020, National Government Services is retiring the Noncovered Services LCD (L33629) and Billing and Coding Article (A57812), and the Category III CPT® [...]
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Posting Date: 08/06/2020
Alert: Postcard Disguised as Official OCR Communication 8/6/2020
Alert: Postcard Disguised as Official OCR Communication 8/6/2020 National Government Services would like to make providers aware of an official notification sent out by the OCR regarding a mailing that was sent out attempting to make providers [...]
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Posting Date: 04/07/2020
Adopting Appropriate Claim Denials Management System: Modifiers 76/77
Adopting Appropriate Claim Denials Management System: Modifiers 76/77 We have identified providers who are submitting several appeals for modifiers 76 and/or 77 and this has caused additional work for your organization as well as National [...]
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Posting Date: 02/07/2020
Adjustment on Payments for Outpatient Clinic Visit Services at Excepted Off-Campus Provider-Based Departments
Adjustment on Payments for Outpatient Clinic Visit Services at Excepted Off-Campus Provider-Based Departments The American Hospital Association challenged CMS’ use of its authority under Subsection (t)(2)(F) of the Medicare statute to pay for [...]
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Posting Date: 09/29/2020
Issues with Medicare Beneficiary Submitted Claims ‒ We Need Your Help
Issues with Medicare Beneficiary Submitted Claims ‒ We Need Your Help National Government Services has seen an increase of Medicare beneficiary submitted claims that often times result in a negative outcome. While most Medicare fee-for-service [...]
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Posting Date: 06/16/2020
Changes in Guidance for E/M Telephone Services (99441-99443)
Changes in Guidance for E/M Telephone Services (99441-99443) We are informing providers of a recent revision in interpretation and guidance for use of CPT codes 99441-99443 for telephone E/M services. Since these telephone services have been [...]
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Posting Date: 02/10/2020
Change in Hospice Cap Review Timeline and Letter Changes
Change in Hospice Cap Review Timeline and Letter Changes National Government Services wants all hospice providers to be aware that we are changing the timing of the final hospice cap reviews. The final hospice cap review will [...]
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Posting Date: 04/06/2020
Call Center Will Not Close for Training on 4/10/2020 and 4/24/2020
Call Center Will Not Close for Training on 4/10/2020 and 4/24/2020 The Provider Contact Center will not be closing for training on 4/10/2020 and 4/24/2020 from 12:00-4:00 p.m. ET. Instead, we will keep our lines open to ensure you can continue [...]
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Posting Date: 03/23/2020
Call Center Will Not Close for Training on 3/27/2020
Call Center Will Not Close for Training on 3/27/2020 The Provider Contact Center will not be closing for training on 3/27/2020 from 12:00-4:00 p.m. ET. Instead, we will keep our lines open to ensure you can continue to reach [...]
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Posting Date: 06/05/2020
COVID-19: Using the CR Modifier and DR Condition Code
COVID-19: Using the CR Modifier and DR Condition Code CMS revised MLN Matters Special Edition Article SE20011 on Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) Response to the Public Health Emergency on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to clarify when you must use [...]
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Posting Date: 08/28/2020
CMS-855R Version (1/20) Reassignment of Medicare Benefits
CMS-855R Version (1/20) Reassignment of Medicare Benefits As a reminder, effective 5/1/2020, the CMS-855R Version (1/20) is the only version of the CMS-855R that can be submitted to allow a provider to reassign benefits to an [...]
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Posting Date: 06/22/2020
CERT A/B MAC Task Force
CERT A/B MAC Task Force The CERT A/B MAC Task Force goal is to educate providers on national issues of concern regarding improper payment errors and to reduce the national payment error rate by creating material to help prevent CERT [...]
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Posting Date: 09/02/2020
Benefits of Using Electronic Data Interchange Transactions
Benefits of Using Electronic Data Interchange Transactions There are a number of advantages to enrolling and submitting claims online. Claims and other transactions submitted electronically process considerably faster than paper submission. [...]
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Posting Date: 08/31/2020
Award of MAC Contract for Jurisdiction 6
Award of MAC Contract for Jurisdiction 6 The CMS selected National Government Services to retain the J6 MAC Contract. As a result, there will be no changes to your service or the support we provide you. NGS looks forward to continuing to serve [...]
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Posting Date: 05/18/2020
Hospitals: Physician Time Studies During the COVID-19 PHE
Hospitals: Physician Time Studies During the COVID-19 PHE Hospitals that incur physician compensation costs must allocate those costs based on the percentage of total time spent furnishing: Part A services Part B services [...]
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Posting Date: 03/11/2020
Hospice Claims Adjustments
Hospice Claims Adjustments National Government Services has received reports of two issues that are currently affecting payments of some hospice claims that have been adjusted. Hospice End of Life SIA Payment Hospice claims are being [...]
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Posting Date: 05/11/2020
Home Health Plans of Care: NPs, CNSs and PAs Allowed to Certify
Home Health Plans of Care: Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists and Physician Assistants Allowed to Certify Section 3708 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. L. No. 116-136) amended sections [...]
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