Government Shutdown Impacts Medicare Secondary Payer Issues

Due to the government shutdown, the employees in the CMS Regional Offices who are involved with Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance have been furloughed. Therefore, as long as the shutdown continues, we anticipate that MSA determination letters will not be issued. We also do not expect to receive any information from the Social Security Administration regarding claimants' public benefits status during the shutdown. We have confirmed, however, that the Workers' Compensation Review Contractor will continue to operate as normal, since it is an independent contractor. Medicare's Coordination of Benefits Contractor and the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Contractor will not be impacted for the same reason. We will monitor the situation closely and do everything possible to move files through the process as quickly as possible.