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New option applies to all providers\u2019 reports.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n To take advantage of Medicare\u2019s new electronic signature capability, you\u2019ll need to learn to navigate its new cost report filing avenue \u2014 the Medicare Cost Report e-Filing (MCReF) system.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u00a0<\/strong>announced MCReF back in February (see Eli\u2019s HCW, Vol. XXVII, No. 9<\/em>), but now says the system is ready to accept filings starting May 1.<\/p>\n In addition to allowing electronic signatures, MCReF, which is in the CMS Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) system, should have benefits including more reliable submission and getting immediate feedback on accuracy, CMS says.<\/p>\n Do this:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cSecurity Officials (SOs) and Backup SOs registered in EIDM for access to the Provider Statistical and Reimbursement (PS&R) system will have access to MCReF through their existing account,\u201d CMS explains. \u201cProviders that are not registered in EIDM as PS&R users must register and assign an SO for their organization.\u201d You can register online at\u00a0https:\/\/portal.cms.gov\/wps\/portal\/unauthportal\/home<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tricky:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>The road to MCReF usage and electronic signatures may have some bumps. Cost report expert\u00a0Dave Macke\u00a0<\/strong>with\u00a0VonLehman & Co.\u00a0<\/strong>in Ft. Wright, Kentucky, expects CMS to require registered Security Officials or Backup SOs to have to submit the reports. The e-signature instructions in the new hospice cost report state \u201ca provider \u2026 may elect to electronically submit the settlement summary and certification statement with an electronic signature of the … administrator or chief financial officer.\u201d<\/p>\n Those EIDM SOs, who are administrators or CFOs, can be hard to pin down to do the required administrative work to register in the system and submit files, Macke worries.<\/p>\n Macke hopes CMS will allow third-party access to MCReF, so that cost report preparers can submit their clients\u2019 cost reports for them. MCReF needs \u201cbetter access,\u201d Macke tells\u00a0Eli<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The new hospice cost report contains a checkbox under its certification statement that says \u201cI have read and agree with the above certification statement. I certify that I intend my electronic signature on this certification statement to be the legally binding equivalent of my original signature.\u201d<\/p>\n CMS will give providers the full details and instructions on how to use MCReF and employ esignatures in its May 1 webinar on the topic. You can register for the webinar online at https:\/\/blh.ier.intercall.com.<\/p>\n Source- SuperCoder<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New option applies to all providers\u2019 reports. To take advantage of Medicare\u2019s new electronic signature capability, you\u2019ll need to learn to navigate its new cost report filing avenue \u2014 the … Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[11,12,13,14],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation","tag-home-care","tag-hospice","tag-ltc","tag-snf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}