Report Enrollment Changes Promptly to Avoid Medicare Payment Delays

Here's a reminder from CMS to family physicians participating in Medicare: Physicians are responsible for reporting changes in their Medicare enrollment information to their designated Medicare contractors.

It's important that physicians comply because, according to CMS, unreported changes can affect claims processing and delay Medicare payments owed to physicians.

CMS has posted three new fact sheets on its Web site to clarify the types of changes that must be reported via CMS form 8551 within 90 days of a change. Examples include:

One CMS fact sheet pertains to physician group practices (2-page PDF; About PDFs) enrolled in Medicare, another to individual physicians (2-page PDF; About PDFs), and a third to nonphysician providers (2-page PDF; About PDFs).

CMS advises physicians to contact their Medicare contractors directly with questions about reporting changes.

Questions about Medicare enrollment are covered in the enrollment area of CMS' Web site.