New Address
Our firm recently moved to a new office, located at:
1350 Independence Street
Denver, Colorado 80215
Our phone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses remain the same, at:
| Phone: | (303) 825-0305 |
| Fax: | (303) 893-2363 |
| General MSA E-mail: | msa@shdcolorado.com |
To avoid any delays, please ensure that your address book and mailings include our current address.
MSA Approval Update
The average length of time between original submission of Medicare Set-Aside proposals to CMS until approvals received last month approached nearly 26 weeks. This timeframe is less than approvals received during the past six months, which averaged 32.25 weeks. Furthermore, the average time for CMS to acknowledge receipt of our proposals last month exceeded 16 days, however this timeframe is also improving.
The majority of our proposals are approved by CMS during the first submission, with less than 10% requiring negotiations. If the majority of our original proposals were not accepted, the time frame could be even longer due to negotiations or other delays. We continually strive to maintain our stellar success rate with CMS to bring the most expedient resolutions for all MSA cases.
Engagement Letter Response Time
Our firm sends an engagement letter to the submitter of a MSA referral upon receipt of the file. If you do not receive an engagement letter for a case within 10 days after sending it to us, please call us to ensure that we received the case. Your cooperation can help us avoid delays in our analysis.
Updated Submission Form
We recently updated our general submission form. Please click here to download the new form, and be sure to always include this form for case submissions. Complete as much information as possible to avoid delays during our analysis of your case.
Medicare Coverage Includes Ultrasonic Treatment
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that Medicare will cover ultrasonic stimulation for nonunion fractures, which are bone fractures that are not healing properly. Since 2000, Medicare has covered ultrasonic stimulation only after a claimant's surgery had failed. However, recent evidence persuaded CMS to cover ultrasonic stimulation as a non-invasive procedure prior to surgical intervention. For more information, see CMS' press release here.
Tips to Expedite Cases
To help us perform our analysis in the most efficient way, we compiled the following list of suggestions to follow when submitting a case:
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Always use our most recent submission form, and please complete as much information as possible.
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If possible, e-mail an electronic version of the payment history to msa@shdcolorado.com rather than sending a hard copy. When we receive a hard copy, we must enter the information by hand, which may delay our analysis.
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Include relevant records when submitting the original file, including official rated age quotes and all necessary medical records.
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Provide the claimant's Consent to Release Information as soon as possible. We will send a blank consent upon receipt of a new MSA referral. If you do not have a release form from our firm, we will be happy to send one.
Following these suggestions will help expedite our analysis. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the current time estimate for CMS to approve a MSA proposal?
A: Recent CMS correspondence claims that a proposal will receive approval within 45 to 60 days. However, our statistics show that the timeframe extends well beyond this claim, with an average of over 200 days (for the past 12 months). The duration varies widely by CMS region.
Q: How quickly can our firm prepare our MSA analysis?
A: We aim to complete our analysis within four weeks of receiving all necessary information. However, if our opinion is needed sooner than four weeks due to a Court date or other urgent deadline, we strive to accommodate your needs. Please let us know of any special circumstances per specific case so that we can prioritize your case accordingly.
Do you have a question about the Medicare Set-Aside process? Feel free to submit it to msa@shdcolorado.com and we will provide an answer as soon as possible.
Engagement Letter Response Time
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