CMS discusses the MSPRP’s “Go Paperless” function at recent webinar

April 14, 2022 / 4 min read

On April 13, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a webinar to discuss the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Portal’s (MSPRP’s) “Go Paperless” function. The call was led by Angel Pagan of the Benefits Coordination and Recovery Center (BCRC).

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The following provides general background related to this matter and an overview of key points discussed on the webinar as follows:

MSPRP – “Go Paperless” feature

By way of background, CMS added the “Go Paperless” function to the MSPRP in January 2022. In general, the MSPRP “Go Paperless” function allows Responsible Reporting Entities (RREs) and their recovery agents to opt-in to electronic delivery of Medicare conditional payment correspondence. Opting into the “Go Paperless” function will eliminate paper mailing of conditional payment correspondence from Medicare.

As part of its webinar notice, CMS described the new “Go Paperless” feature as follows:

Insurers and authorized agents may now choose to opt-in to paperless functionality. Once registered, users will be able to quickly and easily access all recovery correspondence including demand letters, using the MSPRP. Opting to “Go Paperless” in combination with the ability to submit correspondence through the MSPRP and the multiple available options for electronic payment will allow your organization to not only reduce the amount of paper that needs to be physically handled, associated workload and environmental impacts, but also eliminate concerns about delays that can arise when information is sent through the mail.

CMS webinar summary

The below are highlighted points discussed on the webinar grouped topically by the author as follows:

“Go Paperless” function – objectives/intent

CMS explained that the goal of the “Go Paperless” function is to streamline the agency’s process of receiving Medicare conditional payment correspondence which the agency believes will help reduce the need for opening, sorting, and scanning mail. Through this function CMS noted that the intent behind this new function is to allow RREs and their designated recovery agents to access and download all their Medicare conditional payment recovery correspondence through the MSPRP. Of note, CMS advised that the “Go Paperless” function is not currently available to Medicare beneficiaries or their attorneys.

“Go Paperless” function – opting in/out

CMS discussed that opting in or out of the “Go Paperless” function is done via an RRE’s Section 111 reporting system. CMS indicated that RREs can make this change to enroll in the “Go Paperless” function either via the Section 111 COB Secure Website (COBSW), or by updating their TIN reference file in their quarterly Section 111 report. If the change is made through the COBSW, CMS noted that the TIN reference file should be updated to match the COBSW. Further, CMS noted that additional fields have been added to the TIN reference file submission to allow RREs to indicate, as part of their Section 111 reporting, whether the RRE and any designated recovery agent are opting into the “Go Paperless” function.

CMS next steps when RRE opts in to the “Go Paperless” function

Once an RRE or recovery agent opts in to the “Go Paperless” function, CMS advised that the Account Manager (AM) and Account Designees (ADs) for the RRE or recovery agent’s MSPRP account will then receive e-mail notification of new Medicare conditional payment correspondence. While the AM and ADs of an MSPRP account enrolled in the “Go Paperless” function will automatically receive e-mail notification of new correspondence, CMS noted that the MSPRP enables AMs to add one additional e-mail address, which can be a distribution list, to the e-mail notifications. The AM can also choose to remove ADs from receiving e-mail notifications.

Accessing and downloading paperless correspondence

CMS explained that to access and download paperless correspondence, the individual requesting this information must be an authorized user of the MSPRP account and must log into the MSPRP using multi-factor authentication. Further, CMS indicated that correspondence will be available in the MSPRP via the “Go Paperless” functionality for 30 business days after it is posted. CMS also noted that correspondence can be bulk downloaded from the MSPRP in batches of up to 100 megabytes.

Although not specifically referenced by CMS on the webinar, it is noted that further information on the new “Go Paperless” function is contained in the MSPRP User Manual section 14.2.

How we can help

For those RREs interested in learning how they may leverage CMS’s new paperless option regarding Medicare recovery letters, please let us know and we would be more than happy to assist with reviewing your processes to help determine how CMS’s new option could help improve your current practices.

Also, keep in mind that Verisk has a variety of Lien Services to assist you in addressing Medicare recovery claims, including our standard Medicare conditional payment, our programmatic CP Link program, Treasury Claims services, as well as our Medicare Advantage and Part D resolution service.

In terms of results, our various Medicare recovery services have consistently delivered significant cost savings for our clients. Over the past two years, we saved our clients nearly $250 million in conditional payment disputes, in that same time period our CP Link solution saved our clients over $26 million. Finally, we can also help you build practical claims protocols to address each of the Medicare compliance areas noted above and provide training for management and adjuster.

Questions?

Please contact the author if you have any questions regarding the above or other matters related to CMS’s conditional payment process.

CMS discusses the MSPRP’s “go paperless” function at recent webinar

MSPRP – “Go Paperless” feature

CMS webinar summary

“Go Paperless” function – objectives/intent

“Go Paperless” function – opting in/out

CMS next steps when RRE opts in to the “Go Paperless” function

Accessing and downloading paperless correspondence

How we can help

Questions?