Complete Story
07/27/2010
Protecting Your Medicare Enrollment Record
By Joy Newby, LPN, CPC, PCS, Newby Consulting, Inc.
Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) Physicians and Non-Physician Practitioners: Protecting Your Privacy – Protecting Your Medicare Enrollment Record
Over the past few months, we have been writing articles about updating your Medicare enrollment files and that all individual physicians and nonphysician providers need to be sure their enrollment information is in Medicare’s Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System known as PECOS.
Internet-based PECOS meets all required Government security standards in terms of data entry and transmission. Medicare enrollment information can be entered into PECOS and viewed in PECOS only by authorized individuals at CMS or its Medicare contractors. These individuals are trained in security standards and are bound by agreements to protect your Medicare enrollment information. CMS does not disclose your Medicare enrollment information to anyone except when it is authorized or required to do so by law.
Now that you are in PECOS, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to be sure you are aware that you need to protect your enrollment information. Identity theft can be a problem on so many levels, not the least of which is your Medicare enrollment information. CMS is urging all providers to take steps to ensure their Medicare enrollment information does not get into the hands of people who can use that information to commit fraud. CMS believes it has made it easy for you to access Internet-based PECOS by enabling you to use the same User ID and password for Internet-based PECOS that you use for the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES).
To prevent identify theft, CMS recommends you take the appropriate steps to keep your User ID and password secure.
- Change your password in NPPES before accessing Internet-based PECOS for the first time. At least once a year thereafter, change your password. Although your User ID cannot be changed, you should periodically change your password – at least once a year.
- Use Internet-based PECOS to view your enrollment data several times a year, checking to make sure the information has not been altered without your knowledge. Any changes in your Medicare enrollment information would be ones that you submitted on paper to your local Medicare contractor or ones that you made yourself using Internet-based PECOS. Any other changes should be reported to your Medicare contractor immediately.
- Maintain your Medicare enrollment record. You are required to report changes in your Medicare enrollment information. For additional information about reporting changes, go to the Downloads section of http://www.cms.gov/medicareprovidersupenroll on the CMS website.
- Store any printed copies of your Medicare enrollment information, or copies of paper Form CMS-855 and Form CMS-588 (if appropriate), in a secure manner. Do not let others have access to this information, as it contains your personal information, including your date of birth and your Social Security Number. Make sure copies are not left behind at the photocopy machine or on top of your desk or workspace. Be sure to shred any extra copies or those applications that were started and then need to be discarded due to mistakes on the application.
- CMS wants your Medicare payments made electronically and deposited directly into your bank account. Medicare requires newly enrolling providers and suppliers to complete Form CMS-588, Electronic Funds Transfer Authorization Agreement, if they are going to be paid directly by Medicare. Completing the Form CMS-588 will enable Medicare to send payments directly to a provider/supplier’s bank account. If you are still receiving paper checks from Medicare, CMS strongly recommends all sole proprietors and group practices complete this form and then mail it to your Medicare contractor. The form can be downloaded at http://www.cms.gov/cmsforms on the CMS website.
