Synergy’s blog brings you the industry’s foremost thought leadership InSights on matters of healthcare lien resolution and Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance. Visit often to discover helpful InSights on important lien resolution compliance issues.
February 23, 2021 Rasa Fumagalli, JD, MSCC, CMSP-F The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agency has made significant improvements over the years in their online self-service tools for Medicare beneficiaries, their representatives, insurers, and recovery agents. Beneficiaries may obtain detailed information regarding their claims by registering on the MyMedicare.gov website. If the beneficiary […]
January 14, 2021 Rasa Fumagalli, JD, MSCC, CMSP-F Personal injury settlements involving Medicare beneficiaries will often have conditional payment claims by Medicare and/or Part C plan liens. Since accurate and complete information regarding Medicare’s payments may be unavailable during settlement negotiations, practitioners may find themselves engaged in guesswork. The confusion between Medicare’s interim and final […]
November 12, 2020 By: Rasa Fumagalli, JD, MSCC, CMSP-F The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been slow in providing detailed guidance in the area of liability settlements that include compensation for future medicals. To date, the guidance consists of the May 2011 CMS Stalcup memo and the September 2011 CMS memo regarding […]
July 9, 2020 By Jason D. Lazarus Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance for law firms when it comes to “futures” is all about risk mitigation. How do you properly and compliantly close a file when you represent a Medicare beneficiary? The biggest risk a trial lawyer faces when dealing with settlements for a Medicare beneficiary is […]
April 29, 2020 United States of America vs. Carrigan & Anderson, PLLC, Stephen P. Carrigan: U.S. Attorney brings suit against personal injury lawyer and his firm over failing to pay back Medicare for conditional payments By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC In yet another example of Medicare compliance-related issues, a Houston law firm […]
March 2, 2020 The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on the question of whether the Medicare statute, which provides a three-year timeline to the government to request repayment, applies to a private entity providing Medicare benefits (Medicare Advantage plans). The Court’s answer is that the claims filing provision does not bar a claim […]
January 17, 2020 By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC Failure to Pay Equals Personal Liability The government takes its reimbursement rights seriously and is willing to pursue trial lawyers who ignore Medicare’s interest. On March 18, 2019, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced that a Maryland personal injury law […]
January 8, 2020 By: Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC The Department of Justice (DOJ) is serious about and intent on enforcement of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act when it comes to conditional payments. There are now numerous examples of these actions being taken by the DOJ. In this instance, the case against a Philadelphia-based […]
B. Josh Pettingill For over a decade, there has been episodic activity from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Liability Medicare Set-Asides (LMSAs), including but not limited to, policy memorandums, Medicare Learning Network announcements, a notice of proposed rulemaking with subsequent withdrawal, an advanced notice of a notice of proposed rulemaking as well […]