Healthcare facilities are improving along with the
advancement in technology. Consequently, this has lead to an increase in
healthcare expenses to a considerable extent. There are two major public
assistance programs for supporting patients to pay for their healthcare
expenses - Medicare and Medicaid.
Medicare is an initiative taken by the federal
government for providing healthcare facilities with insurance to senior
citizens and people with severe illness or disabilities. On the other hand,
Medicaid is a joint initiative taken by the state and federal government to
provide health insurance to people with a meager income level.
These two programs follow a similar approach, and their
main motive is to help people bear their medical expenses. Both of these public
assistance programs undertaken by the government are designed to help people in
their hour of need.
Medicare is mostly valuable for senior citizens above 65
years, whereas Medicaid is specially designed for people with a low-income
group. Medicaid is paid in the form of public taxation and funding after
obtaining healthcare assistance, whereas Medicare is offered to senior citizens
as a health insurance facility.
You can enroll in the public assistance program
(Medicare) in two ways. You can utilize various Medicare paper applications
with the help of PECOS certification. PECOS is a highly secure
website for insurance providers and healthcare suppliers and is an excellent
alternative to paper-based registration.
Apart from the facilities of online registration, the
data gets recorded and verified through online sources. The entire process is
transparent and can be electronically accessed and transmitted for real-time
updates and modifications. Apart from that, the online portal calls for fewer
mistakes due to human or manual errors in the paper-based enrollment process.
The Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System
(PECOS) is incorporated by medical billing companies for the Medicare filling
system. It is a national database operated electronically for retaining and
recording valuable information for all the Medicare-enrolled suppliers and providers.
It includes the list of all the registered and
non-registered physicians who can refer patients to get enrolled in Medicare.
CMS designed the PECOS framework to combat any incidence of abuse and fraud.
The enrollment process for the suppliers and providers
of Medicare involves submitting a paper-based application or the internet-based
PECOS certification.
The certification has been developed for protecting the
rights of the employees working under PECOS and respecting the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act. All the physicians who care for the
patients enrolled under Medicare should get themselves enrolled in PECOS and
keep the certifications for reference.
It does not cost a penny and follows a straightforward
process of registration. The physicians should revise the PECOS status on a
regular basis. Other professionals such as social workers, nurses, midwives,
psychologists, nurse practitioners, certified specialist nurses, and assistants
of physicians can also enroll in PECOS.
In order to obtain PECOS certification, internet-based
PECOS registration is mandatory. Firstly, an enrollment application must be
submitted for Medicare, followed by changes and modifications in the enrollment
information if necessary. After the web submission, the status can be tracked
regularly for reassignment of benefits.
The Medicare program can be reactivated and additional
changes can be made. Users can withdraw themselves from the program if there is
a necessity or change of ownership of the Medicare enrollment provider.
PECOS is designed for registering and retaining medical
data for all the suppliers and providers of Medicare. For the enrollment
process, you can follow either of these two options - paper-based conventional
registration process or internet-based process.
For internet-based enrollment, the applicant must create
an account in CMS Identity for Access Management System before logging into the
PECOS application portal. After creating a PECOS account, the user should
upload all the required documentation such as National Provider Identifier
(NPI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) number, and another qualification proves. With
proper enrollment type, all the data can be transferred to Medicare for
enrollment.
The paper version of enrollment is done by downloading
the form available on the CMS website. All the criteria should be filed
electronically, then it can get printed and signed for approval. The signed
form is then contacted for processing.
The option of the paper-based enrollment process is
lengthy and cumbersome. On the other hand, online registration is easy and
convenient. The processing time for internet-based PECOS certification takes
about a maximum of 45 days for completion, whereas the paper-based registration
requires a minimum of 60 days.
PECOS certification for Medicare gives more control over
the reassignments and revision of the medical details and asks for regular
updates to keep all the information worthy.
