CMS is waiving Medicare enrollment requirements for providers serving in some areas affected by Hurricane Harvey.
CMS today
issued a release "suspending certain Medicare enrollment screening requirements for healthcare providers and suppliers that are assisting with Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts in areas impacted in Texas and Louisiana."
Non-certified Part B providers and other practitioners in areas hit by the superstorm are encouraged to call a hotline - 1-855-247-8428 - between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 7 through Friday, Sept. 8. If CMS likes their case, the agency will waive the enrollment application fee, fingerprint-based criminal background check, site visits and in-state licensure requirement normally needed for enrollment, and call them back on Monday for an over-the-phone temporary enrollment with temporary Medicare billing privileges.
CMS is also making other stopgap measures, including "temporarily ceasing revalidation efforts" for Medicare providers in the affected areas and lifting its temporary enrollment moratorium on Part B non-emergency ambulance suppliers in Texas,