It's official: CMS is reversing its policy that only providers themselves may use its online PECOS system to enroll in Medicare or update their enrollment information.
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is claiming some credit for CMS's change of heart, saying on its Web site that "As a result of advocacy efforts by the [MGMA and AMA], the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reversed its policy prohibiting practice staff and others from using the new Internet-based Medicare provider enrollment system on behalf of individual practitioners."
Specifically, CMS has removed language that prohibited providers from sharing their National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) login information with staff. This in effect, makes it permissible for providers to give their staff the login information needed to access online PECOS enrollment.
But as the MGMA warns in its statement, "The new language reflects the agency's concern that individual practitioners are still ultimately liable for the enrollment information reported to CMS, as well as inappropriate use of that information by those with whom the individual practitioners share their information."
You can read the MGMA's full statement here. We first reported that CMS was reconsidering this policy in the March 16 issue of Part B News.