It’s Time to Pay Up!
Medicare Accelerated Payment Recoupment to Begin
A Whole Year!
It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since we first were introduced to the terms COVID-19 and the word Pandemic became part of our everyday dialogue.
But here we are, one-year later, and the time has come to repay the accelerated payments that we, as Medicare providers and suppliers who applied for advance money, received.
The time has come…
For those of you who applied for and received Medicare Accelerate Payments in 2020, which were offered by CMS via the Federal Government to assist Medicare providers and suppliers at the beginning of the pandemic, the time has now come to begin repayment/recoupment.
CMS has stated that there will be no delay granted for the repayment of these funds, so please take note that your incoming Medicare payments may be reduced by the following amounts during the recoupment period.
How Repayments will Happen
You have two options available to repay.
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- Option 1 – Repay the entire amount… by returning a lump sum payment. Consult your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for the process they offer to do so. You may be able to return the money electronically or download a form for mailing a physical check for the entire amount.
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- Option 2 – Recoupment by Offset… Beginning precisely one year from the date you received the accelerated payment; your MAC will begin to recover funds from your current Medicare payments in the following manner…
- Beginning at one year from the day the accelerated payment was issued and continuing for an initial 11-month period, an immediate offset of current Medicare remittance will commence at a rate of 25% of the remittance amount until the accelerated payment amount has been repaid.
- After that initial 11-month period, if a balance of the accelerated payment remains unpaid, offset rate will increase to 50% of current Medicare remittance for another 6 months or until the amount has been repaid.
- After the 6 months end, if the accelerated payment total you received remains unpaid, CMS will then issue a demand letter requesting unpaid balance repayment with interest (at the rate of 4% from the date the letter was issued) will begin accruing on all unpaid amounts, assessed for each full 30-day period that the balance remains unpaid.
What if I can’t pay the money back right now?
If you believe your ambulance organization just cannot afford to pay back the money over this period of time, there is a hardship avenue called an Extended Repayment Schedule (ERS) that a provider or supplier organization can take only after the final demand letter is issued. CMS notes that suppliers or providers interested in ERS should contact their MAC for more information regarding that program.
CMS FAQ
CMS has posted a FAQ document on the CMS website which includes MAC contact information.
We suggest that you consult the website as well as your MAC’s website, if you have any questions.
