Judith Waltz Comments on CMS Stay of Enrollment

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Judith Waltz is quoted in the article, “With Stay of Enrollment, CMS Makes it Easier to Fix Errors, Omissions,” offering insight on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new stay of enrollment status for providers who are out of compliance with enrollment forms.

“It’s almost a timeout while CMS gives you a chance to get your paperwork complete,” said Waltz, who is co-chair of Foley’s Health Care Practice.

Until now, errors or omissions on the Medicare enrollment form (855), or a lack of billing with the Medicare number, could result in deactivation, a more modest sanction from CMS than revocation.

“With deactivation, you can generally resurrect your enrollment by filling out a new form with complete and accurate information. Unlike a revocation, it doesn’t cast any aspersions on you as a provider,” Waltz explained, though she noted deactivation is still disruptive, which is why CMS rolled out stay of enrollment.