CMS Delays PECOS Cut-Off for Medicare Providers to 2011
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is giving Medicare providers – including APRNs — another year to enroll or update their enrollment in the PECOS system, as a condition of payment for items and services they order for their patients, or referrals they make to other clinicians. PECOS, the Medicare Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System, contains the National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), and took effect in November 2003. Even current Medicare providers who have not enrolled in PECOS must submit an initial enrollment application. The new deadline will be January 3, 2011, and implements Phase 2 of CMS Change Requests (CRs) 6417 and 6421. After that date, non-enrollment will result in the rejection of claims. For instructions on enrolling in PECOS, go to the CMS website.
Eileen Shannon Carlson, RN, JD
Tags: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Chain and Ownership System, CMS, February 2010, Medicare Provider Enrollment, National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), PECOS
