Medicare Monthly Review:Home Health and Hospice Providers in Region 1

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	National Government Services, Inc. Medicare Monthly Review Part A and B
A Combined Part A and Part B Newsletter

July 2008

National Government Services Part B New Jersey - Enterprise Data Center (EDC) Transition

As part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) consolidation of Medicare data centers, the National Government Services Part B New Jersey data processing operations will move to the new Enterprise Data Center (EDC) beginning Saturday, August 9, 2008.

Because of this transition to the EDC, the system will be unavailable from August 9 through August 11. All system functions will resume August 12, 2008, the first day of production at the EDC.

In order to minimize disruptions during the transition to the EDC, National Government Services will continuously provide updated information on the progress of the transition and any possible impacts to New Jersey Part B providers on our Web site at www.NGSMedicare.com.

As a result of this transition, providers can expect several changes and will be required to take action with regard to some of these changes. The following is a preliminary listing and requires your immediate attention.

Dark Days
In order to complete the transition to the EDC, there will be several system “dark days.” National Government Services will observe dark days on Saturday August 9, 2008 through Monday August 11, 2008.

During dark days there will be no access to the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Our IVR system will be unavailable beginning Friday, August 8, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. continuing through Monday, August 11, 2008. Our goal is to resume normal IVR operations at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.

During the transition, the Customer Contact Center, which includes telephone appeals, will be closed on Monday, August 11. We will resume normal Customer Contact Center activities on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.

Normal IVR System Availability:
Monday through Friday: 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)
Saturday: 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET

IVR hours represent general availability for access to all menu options. The IVR is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Menu options that require system access (e.g., the Common Working File) are limited to that system’s availability.

Interactive Voice Response- New Jersey
877-567-9235

EDI Transactions
Due to the EDC transition, EDI claim files received after 3:00 p.m. on Friday, August 8, 2008 through 4:00 p.m. Monday, August 11 will be entered into the MCS processing/ adjudication system on Monday night, August 11, 2008. We will begin to generate the EDI validation reports for these claim files for you to retrieve on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.

National Government Services is committed to making this transition as seamless as possible for its users. In order to keep providers abreast of the EDC transition, we will continue to provide updated information regarding possible impacts to the New Jersey Part B providers on our Web site at www.NGSMedicare.com.