Eligible professionals (EPs) have an additional month to file their "eligibility" appeals under the electronic health record incentive program, now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has extended the deadline to April 30, 2012. The original deadline was last Friday, March 30.
"An eligibility appeal allows a provider to show that all the requirements for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program were met and that he or she should have received a payment but could not because of circumstances outside of the provider's control," CMS said in its April 3 announcement. CMS didn't divulge why it opted to extend this deadline.
The deadline extension only applies to eligibility appeals. It does not affect "Meaningful Use" and "incentive payment" appeals, for which the deadlines differ based upon when the provider receives notice regarding a payment or attestation issue from CMS.
CMS has selected Provider Resources, Inc. of Eire, Pa., to hear administrative appeals, with support to be provided by CMS' Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ). Opinions of appeals will be posted on OCSQ's website.
To learn more:
- here's the announcement
- here's CMS appeals website
- read this appeals guidance from CMS (.pdf)
- check out this DecisionHealth Daily post