Stop Paper Remittance for Electronic Remittance Receivers!
If you receive an Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA), and have been doing so for 45 days, then this article is of importance to you.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Wisconsin Physicians Service are interested in and committed to reducing paper. Current paper reduction initiatives include the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act's (ASCA) mandatory electronic submission of Medicare claims (with limited exceptions), web based communications (such as policies, Communiqués and Listservs), efforts to increase use of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and the development of Medicare Remit Easy Print (MREP) software that gives providers a tool to read and print remittance advice.
Beginning June 1, 2006, the Standard Paper Remittance (SPR) received through the mail will no longer be available to providers/suppliers who also receive an ERA, whether the ERA is received directly or through a billing agent, clearinghouse, or other entity representing the provider/supplier (CMS Change Request 4376). In response to the provider/supplier communities continued need for SPRs, CMS has developed free software called Medicare Remit Easy Print (MREP) that gives providers/suppliers a tool to read and print a remittance advice (RA) from the HIPAA compliant Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835) file. The MREP software was designed to incorporate new functionality to save providers/suppliers time and money. The paper output generated by MREP is similar to the SPR format. CMS has worked with other payers to insure their acceptance of the SPR generated by the MREP software for Coordination of Benefit claim submission. Additionally, CMS has worked with clearinghouses to assure similar software is available to read and print an ERA for those providers/suppliers that utilize clearinghouse services. We encourage providers/suppliers currently receiving the ERA, who don't use software to read and print RAs from these files, to begin using MREP or other similar software before the June 1st cutoff. Please go to http://www.wpsmedicare.com/provider/mrep.shtml for further information regarding MREP software. We appreciate your continued cooperation as the Medicare program moves toward a more electronic environment.
If you need additional information you may also contact the WPS EDI Hotline for IL, MI & WI: 877-567-7261, or for MN: 952-885-2811, 952-885-2881 or 952-885-2882.
Page Last Updated: Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 14:16:26 CST
