Primary care practices would have a shot at collecting some extra cash while trying a new, more comprehensive clinical approach under a new CMS pilot program. The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPCI) is a four-year program that pay you an extra $20 per patient, per month, on top of regular Medicare fee-for-service charges. The $20 rate, dubbed a “monthly care management fee,” is good for the first two years; then the rate falls to $15 per patient, per month. Additional cash: If after two years, the total cost incurred by participating practices is less than that of non-participating practices, a portion of the savings is shared with participants.

You would be wise to save documentation – in whatever format you can – that shows you were honest and accurate in attesting to meaningful use for the Medicare electronic health record (EHR) incentive program, which is currently doling out money pretty much on the honor system, CMS says. Now the agency has issued its strongest statement yet on the need to preserve documentation for the future meaningful use auditing program.

Most of your peers are happy with their Medicare contractors, but Part B contractors scored lower than other types, especially for enrollment as a business function, according to the latest 2011 Medicare Contractor Provider Satisfaction Survey (MCPSS). Overall, the average score for provider performance was 3.77 out of 5.00, or about 75.4%. The results for 2011 have changed little from 2010, according to the executive summary of the survey, which is commissioned annually by CMS.

You have at least a 93% chance of being required to revalidate a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant by March 23, 2013. Physicians make up the bulk of providers who need to be revalidated as part of CMS’s new enrollment revalidation drive, which affects all providers who enrolled before March 25, 2011. Nearly 52% of these folks are physicians, according to a draft CMS statement-of-work document released May 27. Non-physicians make up the next biggest segment, representing 20.8% of the pie. 

You can expect to see overpayment demands from CMS between now and November for Part B claims processed after April 1, 2011, the agency says. On April 1, CMS implemented a change request (CR 7026) that allowed its Common Working File to accept both Medicare as secondary payer (MSP) data and non-MSP data in claims adjustment lines. In English: Any patient who hasn't met the Medicare deductible, but has Medicare as the secondary payer, was issued coverage and had services paid as if the deductible were met, for claims processed anytime after April 1, 2011, CMS says.