Countdown to Final Submit

Today is the final day for current or potential plan sponsors to submit their Medicare Advantage and/or Part D application for a new contract or service area expansion (or service area expansion  for 1876 Cost Plans). By now, many of you have already hit final submit and are either celebrating or working on known deficiencies. Or, perhaps you are still waiting for documentation or a final quality check of your submission before you feel confident to submit. Here are a few of the things we learned this year along the way.

1. CMS has not updated their Part D readme file to include the FDR chart noted in 3.1.1C.  It seems a bit redundant to the information entered in the Part D Data section of HPMS, but to each his or her own.  CMS provides no template for that chart so we can imagine either it is overlooked upon initial submission by the applicant, or it is submitted in varied forms.
2. Despite making reference to an additional webinar to be held after the second user call, no webinar was scheduled nor was any announcement made to correct that statement. However, CMS staff demonstrated timely responsiveness to posed questions both directly sent to application contacts as well as through the DMAO mailbox.
3. With an industry push for quality (read: limited) network establishment, applicants can expect a high level of scrutiny on exception requests. If providers are available in a service area, CMS has stated that applicants should not even submit an exception request, so put those pencils down and step up contracting efforts.

You have until 8:00 PM Eastern Time tonight to submit your application. There should be a good sense of what potential deficiencies exist, so maintain the momentum to fill those gaps. Embrace the reality that CMS may certainly identify additional gaps in the submission. Ensure that your team has time built into your implementation plan to address any additional deficiencies.

Resources

We’ve assisted scores of organizations through every step of the application process, from gathering the right data, completing the application, submitting, and responding to follow-up questions. Contact us today to ensure a smooth, compliant process.

Registration for the Gorman Health Group 2015 Forum is now open! Attendees can expect timely, actionable advice on the trends shaping health care from notable speakers, including Barclay’s analyst, Joshua Raskin, and regulatory guidance directly from Jennifer Smith, a Director in the Medicare Parts C and D Enforcement Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Register your team for The Gorman Health Group 2015 Forum today!