Home Forums Discussions MACRA/MIPS Reconsideration Acceptance

Anyone receive an email that guarantees as below

National Computer Services Consultants (NCSc) is offering our services of guaranteeing that you will receive an acceptance decision for reconsideration.
Let NCSc use our expertise and knowledge to avoid you having to navigate through the CMS process and rest assured we will get you accepted or you can get you money back.

Do not hesitate in securing our services since there are thousands of participants in the same position as you and the sooner you contract with us the faster we can get you accepted.

Once you have successfully submitted your one time $299.00 fee, NCSc will use all of its resources to submit a favorable Reconsideration Application on your behalf.

To start the process please click on the link below:

Thanks

Peter Saracino

I have a friend in Nigeria who has $15million in a bank account, but he can't get to it unless it is processed through a US bank (some arcane Nigerian law, related to inheritance).
If you will give me your bank account and routing numbers, I will expedite this transaction and for your troubles, you will receive a compensation of $3million.
There is no risk

There is now a toll free number in my area that guarantees to get you a medical marijuana card for $299. I wonder if its the same folks.

I was curious about this, so I Googled the company. Imagine my surprise to see that they are less than 1/4 mile from my office. Maybe I will walk over and chat. And pick up my card.

Please report back what you find!
I would absolutely love to hear that something out there isn't a scam.

Happy to report back, Tom.
It turns out this company saved me from a 4% cut on all our Medicare payments this year. Well, they sort of helped me...

What we are talking about is the 4% cut on 2018 payments if you did not jump through the MU hoops in 2016.
Although we got an (automatic) exemption in 2015 and therefore had no cut in 2017,
for 2016 we decided the amount of work was too onerous and we would just take the cut this year.

After we received a notice that we would, in fact, be receiving that cut, I read Peter's post above, and looked into the company. Sure enough, they did guarantee that for the small (!) fee of $299, that they will get your 4% penalty "reconsidered". I thought about that and realized that they would likely only make such a guarantee if they were quite sure that they would be successful, regardless of the circumstances of the provider involved. In other words, that the reversal of the penalty was essentially automatic.
So I looked up the "reconsideration form" myself and it literally took 5 minutes to fill out. I put a generic -but truthful- "hardship" on the form and today got the notice that our penalty was reversed. We will not get a 4% penalty for the rest of 2018, and will get a check for the 4% already removed so far this year.
Thank you, National Computer Services Consultants. Sort of.

Jon,
I had looked at the form, and agree, it looked pretty simple to file for reconsideration. But, here is why I did not.

To file a hardship exception, you must:
Show proof of circumstances beyond your control
Explicitly outline how the circumstances significantly impaired your ability to meet Meaningful Use

I think that it would be a stretch to say it was beyond my control. I did not want to risk ever being audited, and having to pay funds back with possible penalties or interest. So, I took my lump for this year. Lucky for me, after this, I am done with it. I fit the revised definition of small provider and will be exempt from MIPS going forward.

Hopefully, CMS will not police the exemptions, or create any future problems for you.

Actually, that is not what CMS says:
"EPs, Eligible Hospitals, and CAHs may be exempt from Medicare penalties if they can show that demonstrating Meaningful Use would result in a significant hardship. To be considered for an exception (to avoid a payment adjustment) health care providers must complete a Hardship Exception application and provide proof of the hardship."

On our form we simply stated that the paperwork and logistical requirements created by insurance companies and Medicaid MCO's, in an era of decreasing reimbursements, make practice difficult. "It would have created a significant hardship for us to provide the resources needed to meet MU requirements in 2016."

That information was 100% true and I had no problem stating it; I stand by it. Of course there is always the chance of an audit, but we met the stated criteria with an honest statement so I am not particularly concerned.

Sounds well put, Jon.

What I had read also came from the CMS website, I thought, but maybe it was not up to date.

I believe they have progressively made the requirements less stringent.

In fact, I think every physician could make the exact statements that I made on my form. It might have sent a message to CMS if thousand of docs had simply let them know "It would have created a significant hardship for us to provide the resources needed to meet MU requirements in 2016."

Yes, we could certainly all agree with that statement. You should have organized a movement!

Priceless.

It is this type of opportunism that makes legitimate services offerings in healthcare a diminishing opportunity.

I'm glad to see you went to school on them and found a preferable solution. Bravo!

We went with some company that is being hyped by the Academy of Family Physicians -- I think it cost about $300 and is supposed to make AC completely compliant with everything the Government comes up with.

I personally have given up trying to keep up with all this nonsense -- it certainly doesn't improve patient care, and it makes my gizzard squirm -- but our office manager seems to enjoy the challenge.
She assures me we have no penalty in 2017 or 2018.

Jon,
Have you got a link to that form handy?

Dave

Dave,
I am afraid it is too late; final deadline for submission was mid-February. The form was linked from this page, but it looks like it was taken down.

https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and...centivePrograms/PaymentAdj_Hardship.html

While I have not followed this thread too closely since it is 1) way over my head, and 2) not applicable to me; does anyone know who or why a link like that would be taken down?