Highmark Medicare Services has discovered a payment issue with remittances dated September 25, 2007.  Duplicate payments have been issued on this date for Pennsylvania Part A providers only.  The correct payment and remittance of September 24, 2007 were duplicated within the payment and remittance date of September 25, 2007.

Impact to You:

We are currently identifying the exact overpayment amount for each impacted provider.  Highmark Medicare Services will begin to recoup the overpayments effective Tuesday, October 2, 2007.  Recoveries will be calculated and recouped on all duplicate payments including Transitional Outpatient Payments (TOP) and Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA).

The summary page of your remittance will identify when the overpayment has been recovered.  The payment recovery will be identified on the summary page of your remittance in the withholding section. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do we need to report this duplicate payment on our cost report?
   
   For cost reporting purposes, providers should be aware that their July and August 2007 PS&Rs are accurate and can be used by the providers to submit their cost reports.  The duplicate payments will be corrected through the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS) so there will be no direct impact on cost reports.  Once the fix has been made through FISS, the adjustments will be reflected in PS&R. 
   
   
2. CMS-838 Credit Balance Reports are due on October 30, 2007 do we need to report these duplicate payments on the CMS-838?
   
   The overpayments will be completed before the CMS-838 Credit Balance Report is due, therefore you will not need to report this overpayment.
   

Highmark Medicare Services is working diligently with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to resolve this issue and minimize inconvenience to providers.  If you have any questions, please contact the Provider Contact Center at 1-800-560-6170.  We thank you for your cooperation.