CMS withdraws its 'future medicals' notice of proposed rulemaking

October 14, 2014 / 1 min read

Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) withdrew its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for “future medicals” proposals for liability and workers’ compensation claims. A link to this notice, which the Office of Management and Budget now lists as withdrawn, can be found here.

We examine CMS' proposals

By way of background, in June 2012 CMS released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) proposing to codify formal legal regulations, including possible liability Medicare Set-Asides, for liability and workers’ compensation claims. At that time, we publicly commented, critically examining CMS’ proposals and the assumptions upon which CMS based its ANPRM.

CMS Claims

Waiting for CMS' next move

Since releasing the ANPRM, the industry has been waiting for CMS’ next move in this process. In August 2013, the agency announced plans to release an NPRM. Little fanfare accompanied that announcement and no details were publicly provided. CMS has now withdrawn the NPRM.

We anticipate that CMS will – at some point – revisit the issue of post-settlement compliance measures. Exactly when CMS will return to this issue is unknown. This issue has been a matter of controversy and debate, with very divergent opinions in the industry as to what form the possible regulations could take and who will be ultimately responsible for adhering to them. Until that time, the best approach remains to develop a well-reasoned MSP compliance program taking into account all relevant factors and considerations.