CMS Low Dollar Recovery Threshold Remains $750 for 2019

There will be no change in the low dollar threshold for Medicare conditional payment reimbursement in 2019. The SMART (Strengthening Medicare And Repaying Taxpayers) Act of 2012 serves to avoid governmental waste by setting an annual amount in which the costs associated with reimbursement outweigh the benefits. The SMART Act provides that the Secretary must calculate and publish not later than November 15^th a low dollar threshold amount applicable in the following year for settlements, judgments, awards or other payments in which Medicare Conditional Payment reimbursement need not be reimbursed given the costs associated with recovery. This threshold corresponds also to the $750 threshold for Medicare Mandatory Insurer Section 111 reporting requirement.

On Friday, November 15th, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released their updated Computation of Annual Recovery Thresholds for Non-Group Health Plans.  Below are the Agency’s findings:

• The 2019 reporting threshold remains $750 for no-fault, workers’ compensation and liability cases.
• The estimated cost to process any individual case is $297
• The average Medicare conditional payment demand amount for settlements of $500 is $368 (74%)
• The average Medicare conditional payment demand amount for settlements around $750 is $518 (69%)

These metrics once again demonstrate exceedingly high percentages of cost versus recovery for low dollar settlements. The SMART Act applies a common sense approach to recovery efforts, given such costs associated with reimbursement and the interest of avoiding wasteful spending of government money,. The complete notice can be found in the link here>> CMS Computation-of-Annual-Recovery-Thresholds-for-NGHP–2019.pd

Should you have any questions regarding the above or need any Medicare compliance assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Gordon & Rees Medicare Compliance Group.