MGMA to Congress: Repeal prohibition on a national patient identifier

MGMA, with over 100 other leading healthcare organizations, is urging Congress to reject legislative language that would continue to prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from spending any federal dollars to adopt a national patient identifier. The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation in the past two fiscal years that would repeal this prohibition. The absence of a consistent approach to accurately identify patient results is a significant cost to practices and hinders efforts to facilitate health information exchange, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inaccurate patient identification can lead to patient safety concerns when health data is either matched to the wrong patient or when a patient's data is not matched and is left out of the record. Lifting the prohibition will permit HHS to evaluate a range of patient identification solutions that are cost-effective, scalable, and secure.

CMS begins recouping Accelerated and Advance Payments

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the recoupment of Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment (AAP) loans began for some providers as early as March 31, 2021. Following congressional action last year, repayment of AAP loans is set to begin one year from the date the payment was originally issued in the form of automatic withholds on Medicare claims. Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will show the recoupment on the remittance advices issued for Medicare Part A and B claims processed after the one-year anniversary of when the first loan payment was issued. The recoupment will appear as an adjustment in the Provider-Level Balance section of the remittance advice. Providers with questions about the recoupment process or who would like to repay their AAP loan as a lump sum should contact their MAC directly.