AOPA Alert -- Submitting "Disaster Claims" to the DMERC

AOPA Alert -- Submitting "Disaster Claims" to the DMERC

AOPA

9/6/2005

To assist facilities affected by hurricane Katrina and its aftermath,
AOPA has contacted Palmetto GBA to determine how claims from these
facilities will be handled. DMERC staff indicates that special handling
will be provided for disaster claims.

Here is what you must do to make sure the DMERC is aware of your
disaster claim. You must submit these claims as paper claims (no
electronic claims will be treated as disaster claims) and you must
indicate in large letters in the upper right hand corner Disaster
Claim.

Some of the situations that may qualify for the submission of such
disaster claims are:
1) Your patient records have been destroyed.
2) You are treating a patient from an area affected by hurricane Katrina
(even if you are not in such area) and neither you nor the patient has
appropriate documentation (for example, earlier patient notes,
prescriptions, etc.)
3) Your patient has lost his/her device as a result of the hurricane and
you are simply replacing it.

If you are in doubt as to whether a specific claim would qualify,
contact Palmetto GBA and discuss your situation. Updates will be
provided as AOPA obtains additional information.

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Also, in an earlier posting, AOPA indicated that Palmetto GBA would be
temporarily suspending some audits in Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama. Note that in order for audits to be suspended for your
facility, it must not only be in one of these states, but must also have
been affected by hurricane Katrina. If your facility was not affected,
AOPA regrets that the audits are expected to continue.

If you have been affected, contact Charlene Craven at 803 763-5372 or
Joette Gdovin at 803 763-7202 to request a waiver of audit activities.