QHP Submission Reprieve
OK, so maybe reprieve is not the right word, since according to Google it is defined as “a cancellation or postponement of a punishment”. If you consider a deadline a punishment, then I suppose this is a reprieve, but I digress.
HHS sent out an email Thursday night informing the industry that those issuers who have begun the QHP application process as of 8 pm, will be considered as having met the deadline. This was subtly inserted at the start of the third paragraph so look again if you missed it. This doesn’t mean you should rest on your laurels; they expect everyone to attempt to correct and submit all required pieces by 8pm tonight.
Issuers who have completed submissions and would like to submit a petition requesting a Limited Corrections Window must do so by 9pm EDT (formerly 5pm EDT) on Friday, May 3rd by sending a signed letter to CMS_Issuer_Communications@cms.hhs.gov with the subject line “QHP Data Correction Request” and specific HIOS Issuer ID(s), as outlined in the instructions distributed on Monday, April 29th.
If you are trying to decide if you need to submit a petition, CMS states that if you are simply having technical issues with the uploading and the physical acceptance of your documents, then you do not need to do a petition, but instead you have a new window of this coming Monday until 11:59PM Eastern in order to try to get the system to accept your documents. (Remember, HIOS is down this weekend for maintenance.) According to how CMS is responding to Issuer questions on their Open Q&A call, it sounds like they want the petition process reserved for non-technical corrections on completed submissions, such as last minute content changes, or if you just received clarifying guidance and now need to change something that has already been submitted.
Issuers are asking “Well what if we still have technical problems on Monday and didn’t submit a petition?” and “Will you have an Open Q&A call on Monday?” At this point, CMS is taking the “We’ll-Cross-That-Bridge” stance, so stay tuned.
Resources
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