The same system that currently allows physician and non-physician practitioners to enroll, reenroll and update their Medicare information online will soon be made available to DME suppliers. During an open door forum call held this week, CMS announced that DMEPOS suppliers will be given access to Medicare’s online Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) by July 13.
In lieu of mailing traditional CMS-855 paper forms, suppliers will now be able to go online and use PECOS to quickly:
- Submit new enrollment applications;
- Complete the re-enrollment process;
- Track the status of their applications,;
- View and make changes to their enrollment records;
- Voluntarily terminate their billing numbers; and
- Reactivate an inactive (but not terminated) billing number.
Suppliers who submit their applications online will see that PECOS offers a much quicker processing time — just 45-days, versus the 60-day processing time for paper submissions.
However, PECOS does not entirely eliminate the need for paperwork. When submitting an application via PECOS, providers will be required to print, sign, date and mail a Certification Statement to the NSC. It’s important to do this immediately after submitting an application (no later than seven days), as the NSC will not process online enrollments until a Certification Statement is received.
Unlike mail sent via the postal service, PECOS also offers suppliers the ability to track their applications. Beginning 15 days after submission, suppliers may log into PECOS and check to see if their application is:
- Submitted — Sent to the NSC;
- In Process — Being reviewed by the NSC;
- Returned for Corrections — Errors have been found and corrections must be made within 30-days;
- Resubmitted — You have made corrections and resubmitted the application; or
- Approved, Denied, or Rejected — Final status.
To prepare for the July 13 deadline, CMS will transfer all enrollment data for active DMEPOS suppliers from the NSC into PECOS on July 5. Just as with physician enrollments, if a provider’s billing number has become inactive, or if it has not enrolled, reenrolled, or made changes to its information since November of 2003, the provider will not be included in this initial transfer.
After July 13, providers may access PEOCS and check to see if they are listed in the database by visiting https://pecos.cms.hhs.gov and logging in with their NPPES user ID and password (these are established when a provider applies for an NPI). If a provider cannot find its information, it will need to update its enrollment record with the NSC and can do this by submitting an online enrollment application via PECOS, or by mailing a paper CMS-855S.
Note: If a provider submitted a paper application to the NPI Enumerator and needs to establish an online NPPES user ID and password to log into PECOS, it can do so by visiting https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/CreateLoginForExistNPIPage.do. If a provider ahs forgotten its NPPES user ID or password it will need to contact the NPI Enumerator at 1-800-465-3203 or [email protected].
For more information on using the PECOS system, see CMS’s Getting Started with PECOS Guide for DMEPOS suppliers at http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/downloads/Internet-basedPECOS–GettingStartedGuideforDMEPOSSuppliers.pdf. The guide provides: a breakdown of the PECOS enrollment process for individual and organizational providers; step-by-step instructions on how to submit an online enrollment application; information on checking the status of your application; and answers to frequently asked questions.
