Claims warnings turn to rejections

WASHINGTON - Providers who have received a B108 warning message from the Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) will find their claims rejected beginning Oct. 1. The B108 warning message from the GenResponse report occurs when the NPI is not linked to the trading partner (submitter) ID, said Andrea Stark, a Medicare consultant. "Some people have just not acclimated," she said. "So, if they haven't been downloading the GEN report, they are all of a sudden going to have issues and wonder why the money has stopped coming in." In May, National Government Services, the CEDI contractor, began processing all claims instead of the four DME MACs processing claims for each of their jurisdictions. Providers who get a B108 warning message must complete the supplier authorization form and fax it back to CEDI, Stark said. Providers must complete the form themselves; a third-party biller cannot do it for them. The forms are available at http://www.ngscedi.com/forms/formsindex.htm. Once completed, they should be faxed to 315-442-4299. Starting Oct. 6, the GEN report will include rejection information. By November, it will include all claims information--acceptance and rejections-- and a claim control number, Stark said. That will speed things up. "They will be able to turn rejections around in a matter of minutes to a couple of hours," she said.