Medicare Claims Must Be Filed Electronically

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced last month that it will accept from entities covered by HIPAA only those Medicare claims that are electronically submitted unless there are unusual circumstances beyond control, such as disruption in electronic service.

CMS will continue to accept paper claims from noncovered entities.

The agency reiterated its “no paper” position for covered entities on October 16 when the final HIPAA electronic transactions and code sets rule went into effect.

CMS will continue to accept electronic claims that are not in the standard HIPAA format for an undetermined amount of time as long as health care organizations make good-faith efforts to comply with the rule (Psychiatric News, October 3). ▪