CMS issues new provider enrollment rules

WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Medicare issued new rules for provider and supplier enrollment, which the agency said will streamline the process.

All providers and suppliers are now required to complete and submit a standardized application, report changes in enrollment data within 90 days and re-certify the accuracy of their information every five years.

Existing providers and suppliers are not required to immediately submit a new application; the agency will notify them when it is time for their re-certification.

Previously, enrollments requirements varied between the different contractors that processed Medicare claims.

"By standardizing the information that a health care provider or supplier must use in order to bill Medicare, we will be better able to protect the Medicare program and assure providers and suppliers that they will be paid promptly," said, Timothy Hill, chief financial officer and director of the Office of Financial Management at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). "The new rule will also help bring us even closer to the development of an electronic medical record."

In addition to the new regulation, CMS anticipates issuing revisions to the existing CMS-855 Medicare enrollment applications in the near future, the agency said.