On October 26, CMS once again issued an alert indicating it would be considering expanding the review of voluntary Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs) to include liability insurance and no-fault insurance (LMSAs and NFMSAs). Just as with other alerts, today’s alert also states that CMS will work closely with the stakeholder community to identify how best to implement this potential expansion. The alert can be found here.
This is interesting news as you may recall, last month we reported that a new Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor (WCRC) was awarded. The WCRC is the entity that is charged with reviewing Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs) submitted to CMS through its voluntary review program. We were hoping for a smooth transition to the new contractor, Capital Bridge, LLC when we first learned of the award. However, the WCRC award has been protested by two other companies that also submitted bids, KEN Consulting, Inc and Arch Systems, LLC. We expect the bid protest to be resolved by December 21, and perhaps by then we have will more news about the expansion of CMS’ voluntary review program to include LMSAs and NFMSAs.
In its alert, CMS further indicated that town hall meetings will be held in the near future. We will continue to keep you updated should CMS schedule any town hall meetings or expand the voluntary review program to include the review of LMSAs and NFMSAs.