Natt Reifler, Esq., CMSP, VP of MSP Compliance - Solutions for Workers' Compensation and Liability Settlements

Natt Reifler, Esq., CMSP, VP of MSP Compliance

08/Jan/2019

Planning to protect Medicare’s future interests should be part of any diligent Medicare Secondary Payer Act[1] (MSP) compliance analysis. However, because enforcement actions by the U.S. under the MSP have focused on reimbursement of Medicare for payments occurring prior to settlement, Medicare lien resolution (i.e. investigating and negotiating satisfactory payment of Medicare conditional payment reimbursement demands), should be placed at the top of the MSP compliance list by primary payers and those representing injured parties. We recently wrote about conditional payment correspondence from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through its BCRC and CRC contractors, the updated functionality of the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Portal (MSPRP), and the importance of obtaining correct conditional payment amounts so settlements can move forward while protecting Medicare’s past interests. When the U.S. government’s conditional payment reimbursement amount (Medicare lien amount) is larger than a potential settlement amount or the payment of the full lien amount will take up a good portion of a Medicare beneficiary’s net settlement, a beneficiary will be less interested in settling. Enter Medicare lien resolution.

Medicare Lien Resolution Road Map

When we perform Medicare lien resolution, our goal is to get CMS to evaluate the Medicare lien amount compared to the net amount to be received by injured party after fees and costs are deducted. Additionally, we sometimes ask CMS to evaluate the Medicare lien amount compared to the weakened financial position/physical condition of the Medicare beneficiary after an accident. When the net settlement is unfairly low compared to the Medicare lien amount, CMS will often reduce the lien prior to settlement. There are several federal statutes and accompanying regulations that provide authority for CMS to reduce (compromise) or sometimes waive Medicare liens. The statutes and regulations outline standards and factors that may be considered for full or partial reductions of Medicare lien amounts. These factors often focus on the ability of the injured party to pay the lien, costs the government would incur to pursue collecting the lien, as well as the injured party’s financial/physical circumstances.

Medicare Lien Waiver Process

The Medicare lien waiver process is a more involved process than the compromise process. Waiver requests typically focus on the financial position of the injured Medicare beneficiary, who may have higher expenses and/or lower income after sustaining an injury. After settlement occurs and funds are transferred, while the MSP technically still allows the U.S. to pursue the primary payer (entity responsible for payment) when a Medicare beneficiary fails to satisfy a Medicare lien, the Medicare beneficiary is most often considered the debtor and pursued by CMS initially through the Benefits Coordination and Recovery Center (BCRC). Attorneys for Medicare beneficiaries can also be caught in the MSP cross hairs. Waiver requests for a Medicare beneficiary are sent to the BCRC. In turn, the BCRC typically asks for a SSA-632 form to be filled out with a variety of financial information about the beneficiary. Waiver determinations may be made by BCRC staff and are usually based on financial hardship.

To speed up the process and increase the likelihood of a positive outcome, it is a best practice when requesting a waiver to provide a full financial picture of the beneficiary, including either a completed SSA-632 form or as much of the information requested by that form as can be obtained, so BCRC staff will have adequate information to reach a fair determination. A waiver may be granted when continuing the collection would be against “equity and good conscience.” The process takes about 120 days from start to finish for a waiver determination to be made. If a conditional payment demand has been paid, a waiver or compromise request may still be made, and a refund will be considered. If the BCRC makes a determination to refund all or part of the prior payment, the refund will typically take an additional 3-4 weeks, depending on whether payment had been made to the BCRC directly or whether it was made to the Department of Treasury after a referral of the debt to Treasury by the BCRC.

Medicare Lien Compromise Process

If there is not a significant financial or physical hardship to the Medicare beneficiary, but the dollar amount of the projected settlement is low compared with the likely settlement value and/or the Medicare lien amount, an alternative to a waiver request is a Medicare lien compromise request. To request a compromise, a third-party representative may offer to pay a specific dollar amount on behalf of the beneficiary to fully compromise the outstanding Medicare debt/lien amount. The requester must include the settlement amount (or settlement offer), the amount they are asking CMS to accept as full payment, and the actual or projected attorney fees and costs associated with procuring the settlement. Attorney fees and costs are omitted when the beneficiary is not represented by counsel. CMS, through the BCRC, either responds by accepting the offer or presenting an alternate proposed amount. At that point, the beneficiary must pay the countered amount or if accepted, pay the accepted amount within 60 days of the BCRC response, or else the offer is no longer valid.

Letting a representative act on your client’s behalf in communicating and negotiating with CMS has helped lawyers save time and put more money in the pockets of their clients, while helping parties to the settlement comply with the MSP with respect to Medicare’s past interests. Count on Medivest to help you with your Medicare lien resolution needs.

[1] 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b)(2) et seq.

Natt Reifler, Esq., CMSP, VP of MSP Compliance

31/May/2018

The two Congressmen that worked together to introduce the bill that became the SMART Act of 2012, amending the Medicare Secondary Payer statute (MSP)[1], have teamed up again, this time on May 18, 2018, to introduce the PAID Act, which stands for Provide Accurate Information Directly Act. The PAID Act, introduced as House Bill 5881, is aimed at helping Medicare beneficiaries and parties that settle injury cases with beneficiaries get more complete injury-related medical payment reimbursement information than they get now. The PAID Act would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the sub agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) charged with the responsibility of running Medicare and creating regulations implementing the MSP, to provide insurance carriers and injured Medicare beneficiaries information about how much money has been spent toward injury-related Medicare covered medical items, services, and expenses (“Medicals”) by not only traditional Medicare (Parts A & B) as it does now, but privately administered Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare Prescription Drug (Part D) Plans, and the federally funded, predominantly state administered needs-based Medicaid plans, too.

As it exists, CMS provides various updates on mounting or finalized Medicals paid by traditional Medicare after being notified of upcoming settlements or receiving confirmation of settlements. The updates are provided through the CMS web portal to parties that submit proof of authorization (Authorized Parties) to access the information. The MSP provides direct statutory lien rights to the U.S. as well as equitable subrogation rights to the U.S. to arm Medicare with enforcement tools allowing it to be reimbursed for amounts conditionally paid that should be or should have been paid by Workers’ Compensation, Automobile Insurance, Liability Insurance including Self-Insurance, or No Fault Insurance (Primary Plans). CMS provides the running total of the Medicare lien amount to help parties that want to settle know the amount to be paid to Medicare to satisfy its lien. The SMART Act amendments to the MSP added a three year statute of limitations for the U.S. to bring recovery lawsuits enforcing Medicare’s conditional payment recovery rights and outlined demand amount update procedures and enabled regulations to be created by CMS, further defining procedures for Authorized Parties to obtain updated and reliable information from the CMS portal on conditional payments by Medicare.

However, neither the MSP nor its SMART Act amendments contemplated the difficulties that Primary Plans, injured beneficiaries, and other Authorized Parties have experienced in getting updated information on prior injury-related medical payments made by Medicaid entities and/or the privately administered Medicare plans referenced above. If CMS provided the payment information contemplated by the PAID Act in addition to the past payment of Medicals made by traditional Medicare, settling parties and their representatives would have a more efficient mechanism to determine proposed payment obligations toward a larger portion of past Medicals (collectively referred to in this article as Total Government Reimbursement Amounts). When Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSAs) are submitted to CMS for review or when any MSA allocation report is prepared, the standard is to project future costs for both medical services as well as prescription drug expenses. However, CMS does not currently provide information about amounts paid for prescription drug expenses when parties or their authorized representatives request payment information through its web portal as those expenses are administered privately. Therefore, the payment information available from CMS only provides part of the picture.

Primary Plans almost always condition payment of settlement funds on the agreement of beneficiaries to reimburse past conditional payments made by Medicare and often reference any applicable payment obligations to Medicaid[2] along with an acknowledgment by beneficiaries of their obligations to not prematurely bill Medicare for future Medicals pursuant to the MSP. Payments for past Medicals by Part C, Part D and Medicaid Plans regarding settled injuries have not gotten the same attention that traditional Medicare conditional payments have because CMS is charged with the responsibility by the Secretary of HHS pursuant to the Federal Claims Collection Act[3] to focus on the recovery rights of the U.S. under the MSP for conditional payments made through traditional Medicare.

The PAID Act sounds great in principle. However, because the text of the bill will not be available until June 18, 2018, it is hard to say whether it will gain traction as written. Because traditional Medicare’s lien rights are enforced by the U.S. pursuant to the MSP, the PAID Act will not likely need to reference prioritization of lien rights. A wrinkle that has arisen is that private cause of action claims by Part C Plans or their assigns under the MSP are regularly being filed and it seems that MSP private cause of action claims could be filed by Part D plans too[4]. Sometimes, beneficiaries transfer between traditional Medicare coverage and Part C Plans from year to year. Therefore, settling parties interested in addressing potential Medicare recovery rights should pay attention to the rights of Part C and Part D Plans for recovery of payment of past Medicals. State legislatures, state Medicaid agencies, and courts asked to enforce Medicaid liens also need to consider the federal anti-lien statute[5] when addressing Medicaid lien matters alone or when Medicare has outstanding lien interests.

Putting the priority of Medicare liens over other liens to the side for a moment, the PAID Act would seem extremely helpful in providing a big picture look at the Total Government Reimbursement Amounts. Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) stated that “this legislation will ensure that beneficiaries, Medicare and Medicaid have a clear and quick way to identify whether or not a participant has an MSP obligation, and provide information about how that obligation can be resolved.” He further stated that “the PAID Act represents a ‘win-win-win’ for beneficiaries, plans, and the federal taxpayer.” Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) added that “Congress can save significant money for taxpayers and drive a better coordination of benefits if it mandates the sharing of certain information between CMS and settling parties.”

Medivest will continue to monitor the progress of this legislation and encourages readers to consider supporting it once the text of the PAID Act becomes available. The language of the bill will be available here next month. Information about how to reach your local Congressional representative regarding the PAID Act may be found here.

[1] 42 U.S.C. §1395y(b) et. seq. The MSP, a series of provisions that amend the Social Security Act and address both the order of payments for injury-related Medicare covered and otherwise reimbursable medical items, services and expenses like prescription drug expenses (Medicals) as well as the right of the U.S. Government to be reimbursed for any payments it makes for Medicals.

[2] Medicaid has lien rights derived from state law allowing it to reach portions of settlements that compensated medical bills paid by the respective state’s Medicaid agency as described under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Ahlborn case, cited in footnote four below, and as legislatively reinstated by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018’s repeal of corresponding provisions of the BBA of 2013.

[3] 31 U.S.C. §3711, also known as the FCCA – requires the heads of legislative agencies to attempt to collect claims of the U.S. (and authorizes waivers and compromises of claims valued at up to $100,000 when a liable person does not have present/prospective ability to pay significant amount of claim or cost of collecting claim is likely to be more than amount recovered).

[4] The same MSP regulations in 42 C.F.R. § 422.108 are extended to Medicare Part D Plans via 42 C.F.R. § 423.462. Therefore, Part D Plans would likely be held to have the same MSP recovery rights as MAOs including the possibility of seeking double damages under the MSP private cause of action should a primary payer deny the Part D Plan reimbursement of due conditional payments.

[5] 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(a)(1). See also, Wos v. E.M.A. ex rel. Johnson, 568 U.S. 627, 630, 133 S. Ct. 1391, 1395, 185 L. Ed. 2d 471 (2013)(“The anti-lien provision pre-empts a State’s effort to take any portion of a Medicaid beneficiary’s tort judgment or settlement not ‘designated as payments for medical care.’” citing Arkansas Dept. of Health and Human Servs. v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268, 284, 126 S.Ct. 1752, 164 L.Ed.2d 459 (2006)).

Natt Reifler, Esq., CMSP, VP of MSP Compliance

18/Apr/2018

Injured Medicare beneficiaries or those with a reasonable expectation of becoming enrolled in Medicare within 30 months of settlement (claimants) have a legal responsibility under the Medicare Secondary Payer statute enacted in 1980 (MSP)[1], to not prematurely bill Medicare for injury-related otherwise Medicare allowable, medical expenses (future medicals). Because many claimants and even their attorneys still don’t know the MSP law exists or how to comply with it, many settlements for claimants don’t properly consider and protect Medicare’s interests as a secondary payer for future medicals. Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) compliance programs consider Medicare’s MSP interests and implement actions to protect those interests. MSP compliance companies rely heavily on two valuable tools that work best in conjunction to achieve MSP compliance goals; a MSA allocation report (also known as a Set-Aside arrangement) estimating future medicals, and administration of MSA funds, with spending restricted to applicable future medicals. If administration of MSA settlement funds is handled by the injured claimant, it is referred to as self-administration and when performed by a company like Medivest Benefit Advisors, Inc., it is known as professional administration.

With a federal law on the books prohibiting premature billing of future medicals to Medicare and the potential for those not complying with the MSP being denied Medicare benefits for the claimed/released injury, is it wise to allow injured parties to manage and administer post settlement future medicals? The National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI) recently published a research brief updating its 2014 study on Workers’ Compensation MSAs (WCMSAs) and WCMSA reviews and reported that between 2010 and 2015, approximately 98% of all WCMSAs from the study’s 11,000 MSA data sample were self-administered. That seems outrageous when injured parties are notorious for quickly spending money received from lump-sum settlements. Statistics in a personal injury practice guide by The Rutter Group indicate that somewhere between 25 and 30% of accident victims spend all settlement money within two months of receiving the funds and that up to 90% of accident victims use all settlement proceeds within five years.[3] Spending sprees seem common with lottery winners, some professional athletes, and most likely other people that come into money quickly. Congress considered the poor spending habits of settlement recipients when it enacted the Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982 (PPSA)[4],[5], and in subsequent related legislation.[5] Because annuity payments paid under the PPSA are paid tax-free and injured parties can often be irresponsible with their spending when they receive lump-sum settlements, structured settlements are often a wise choice to help injured parties preserve settlement funds for their needs.

Irresponsible spending of settlement funds by injured parties is sad, but when settlement funds are misspent by people other than the injured parties, it can be tragic. A Wall Street Journal article recently highlighted this risk.[7] In 1980, Nicole Herivaux lost the use of one of her arms due to alleged medical malpractice at the time of her birth in New York. In 1983, the minor’s family settled a malpractice lawsuit in exchange for a structured settlement that paid monthly annuity payments and a few hundred thousand dollars in lump sum money that could be used for Nicole’s education, among other things. The company that started making settlement payments initially deposited the annuity checks in Nicole’s mother’s name, “as guardian” of Nicole directly into a bank account. That company later transferred the responsibility for making those payments to a different insurance company in 1995, when Nicole was 15 and still a minor. Nicole Herivaux is now an adult with student loan debt and alleged in a 2018 lawsuit that the new company sent the annuity payments directly to her mother without any payment restriction or oversight and that her mother misused and inappropriately exhausted Nicole’s settlement funds. If the settlement had included professional administration of a custodial account, money intended for the minor could have paid off Nicole’s education expenses and provided her a better chance to live with peace of mind, dignity and security.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the regulatory body running the Medicare program and charged with the responsibility of interpreting the MSP has promulgated regulations and issued memos helpful to determining reasonable and appropriate measures to comply with the MSP. A 2011 memo from CMS’s Regional Office in Dallas from Sally Stalcup, as MSP Regional Coordinator, announced that Medicare Set-Aside is CMS’s “method of choice and the agency feels it provides the best protection for the program and the Medicare beneficiary.”[8] From the context of the Stalcup memo, it is clear the use of the term “Set-aside” included a MSA arrangement described above, and that Set-asides (MSAs) would apply in both workers’ compensation and liability cases. The Stalcup Memo also announced that “each attorney is going to have to decide, based on the specific facts of each of their cases, whether or not there is funding for future medicals and if so, a need to protect the Trust Funds.”

However, it is one thing to set money aside for the intended purpose and quite another to properly administer the money. Even when an injured claimant hires an attorney to represent them to obtain a settlement, judgment or award (“settlement”), settlement funds reserved for future medicals can be misspent. For example, attorney misconduct was found in a South Carolina Bar disciplinary case where an attorney representing a claimant failed to properly administer funds set aside to protect Medicare’s interests (MSA funds) as a secondary payer for future medicals.[9] In another bar disciplinary case, an Illinois licensed attorney used trust funds for improper purposes when the trust funds were to be maintained in trust until it was determined whether they belonged to the attorney’s client or Medicare.[10]

Did the attorneys in these matters know how to report settlements to CMS’ Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center (BCRC) contractor, how to request Medicare conditional payment amounts, perform bill review and potentially dispute and finalize conditional payment lien amounts? Did they consider whether their client’s injury and/or financial condition might lend itself to a conditional payment lien compromise or waiver request? Furthermore, did the attorneys know how to properly administer the MSA funds that were set aside for their clients’ future medicals? If the attorneys had sought the advice of a competent company that performs these functions regularly, they would have been in a better position to protect their clients, protect the Medicare Trust Funds and protect their professional standing.

Allowing incompetent, injured claimants to self-administer their own MSA accounts cannot be a prudent way to protect Medicare’s interests in preserving the nation’s Medicare Trust Funds. Even competent claimants likely experience difficulties attempting to self-administer MSA funds. While CMS makes resources available to individuals intending to self-administer an MSA account including a WCMSA Reference Guide and a Self-Administration Tool Kit, but what percentage of injured claimants will read and follow the protocol of the 127-page WCMSA Reference Guide and the 31-page Self-Administration Tool Kit?

Self-administration is surely harder than filing a standard federal income tax return. Plenty of people find it helpful to use professional assistance or digital software to help them file their tax return. [11] A self-administering claimant needs to evaluate bills for medical items and expenses, including prescription drug expenses, to verify that they are both injury-related, Medicare allowable and otherwise reimbursable. Once bills are reviewed, a decision still needs to be made as to how much should be paid. Is the provider a Medicare-approved provider? Should the amount be the Medicare allowable rate, the provider’s bill rate or the usual and customary rate? Is there a Group Health Insurance plan involved? Does it matter if the case stems from a liability case versus a workers’ compensation claim? Does the Code of Federal Regulations say anything about these distinctions? Does CMS provide guidance in this area via its website, its Medicare Learning Network, or WCMSA Reference Guide? Have there been any cases evaluating these issues and was the claimant’s injury in a jurisdiction where case law might affect the amount of money to be set aside for those future medicals? Will a claimant be able to keep records on their own sufficient to withstand CMS scrutiny to determine whether MSA account spending is MSP compliant? Will the claimant remember to prepare and transmit required annual attestations of MSP accounting compliance? Because the answer to these questions is only part of the MSP compliance puzzle, it is little surprise that CMS announced professional administration as recommended for MSA fund administration. In addition to providing a full array of Professional Administration services, Medivest also offers a Self-Administration Kit service that provides customer service and claims support as well as discounts on durable medical equipment and prescription medication to help competent claimants take on self-administration.

[1] 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b).

[2] The Rutter Group, “California Practice Guide: Personal Injury” Chapter 4.

[3] Re: Section 130 Qualified Assignments, 2003 WL 22662008, at *3 (legislative history to the PPSA detailed that additions to the law helped provide certainty that periodic payments of personal injury damages are excluded from the gross income of the recipient. S. Rep. No. 97-646, 97^th Cong., 2d Sess. 4 (1982)).

[4] Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982 (PL 97–473 (HR 5470), PL 97–473, January 14, 1983, 96 Stat 2605) (through tax benefits, the PPSA encourages use of structured settlements to resolve personal physical injury and physical sickness cases).

[5] Re: Section 130 Qualified Assignments, 2003 WL 22662008, at *18 (The public policy encouraging use of structured settlements by providing a tax subsidy was affirmed in JCX-15-99, the Joint Committee on Taxation, Tax Treatment of Structured Settlement Arrangements from March 16, 1999 (pointing out perils of lump sum settlements when “. . . the individual may, by design or poor luck, mismanage his or her funds so that future medical expenses are not met.” JCX 15-99 accompanied H.R. 263, “The Structured Settlement Protection Act,” 106^th Cong., 1^st Sess. Section 5891 of the Code enacted by a subsequent version of that bill, H.R. 2884, on January 23, 2002).

[6] Under Section 104(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.), personal injury settlement proceeds are tax-free, but when paid in a lump sum, any investment earnings or interest paid on those funds as they grow over time is taxable. Pursuant to Section 104(a)(2) of the I.R.C., each structured settlement payment over the entire period of payment of the annuity stream is tax-free to the victim. The details of taxable consequences associated with interest gained after receipt of each annuity should be evaluated with a licensed tax professional in conjunction with a structured settlement advisor.

[7] Leslie Scism, Lawsuit Alleges MetLife Mistake Helped a Woman Keep Settlement Money From Her Daughter Insurer faces lawsuit over structured-settlement annuity related to old business, WALL STREET JOURNAL., February 21, 2018.

[8] Sally Stalcup, MSP Regional Coordinator, Region VI (May 25, 2011, Handout).

[9] In the Matter of Morris, 343 S.C. 651, 653-54, 541 S.E.2d 844, 845 (2001).

[10] In the Matter of: Charles Augustus Boyle, Attorney-Respondent, No. 268739, 2014 WL 10505032, at *2. (Attorney voluntarily relinquished his license to practice law after an investigation revealed among other misconduct, that he failed to pay his client’s medical bills from settlement proceeds in one case, failed to deposit settlement proceeds into a guardianship account established on behalf of a minor in another case, failed to notify Medicare that four other cases settled and failed to pay the Medicare conditional payment liens for those four cases).

[11] Excluding those individuals who responded “none of the above” to the question of how they file their taxes, gobankingrates.com reports from an internet poll that of just over 5,000 people, 36.8% said they use either an accountant (28.5%) or a brick and mortar tax company like H&R Block (8.3%) and 34.5% responded that they use tax filing software.

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Medicare Lien Waiver Process

Medicare Lien Compromise Process

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Settlement Funds Protected by Professional Administration

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