CMS Releases Updates to MMSEA Section 111 NGHP User Guide and WCMSA Reference Guide

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began April with updates to two of its popular user guides, the MMSEA Section 111 NGHP User Guide and the WCMSA Reference Guide.  Notably, the NGHP User Guide, version 7.5, now includes details on the requirements to report WCMSA amounts with other relevant data. These will need to be reported as of April 4, 2025.

The NGHP User Guide, Section 6.5.1.1 of Chapter III: Policy Guidance, was updated to state:

For workers’ compensation records submitted on a production file with a TPOC date on or after April 4, 2025, Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements (WCMSAs) must be reported.

CMS also updated Chapter IV: Technical Information with similar language.

CMS Revisions to WCMSA Reporting Fields in Chapter V: Appendices

Additionally, CMS updated Chapter V: Appendices to identify the fields that will be added to the Claim Input File Detail for WCMSA reporting:

• Field 37 – MSA Amount: This will be either $0 or an amount greater than $0. If an annuity is used, then the “total payout” is reported.
• Field 38 – MSA Period: If the MSA amount is greater than $0, you need to enter the number of years the MSA is expected to cover the beneficiary.
• Field 39 – Lump Sum or Structured/Annuity Payout Indicator: If the MSA amount is greater than $0, you will enter “L” for a lump-sum MSA or “S” for a structured/annuity MSA.
• Field 40 – Initial Deposit Amount: If an annuity, then the MSA seed amount is reported.
• Field 41 – Anniversary Deposit Amount: If an annuity, then the amount of the annual payments.
• Field 42 – Case Control Number (CCN): If an MSA is submitted to CMS for review or is otherwise submitted to CMS post-settlement, it will be assigned a CCN. The CCN is entered in this field, although this is optional.
• Field 43 – Professional Administrator EIN: Enter the Employer Identification Number of the professional administrator here if there is one. If this EIN is not provided, the “case administrator” defaults to the beneficiary. If the EIN does not match a registered administrator account in the Workers Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Portal (WCMSAP), then “case administrator” will also default to the beneficiary.

CMS provided a table of error codes for errors identified in the above-reported information.

Responsible Reporting Entities (RREs) can start testing these new fields on October 7, 2024. For further details, see the Tower article, CMS Sets Date for Start of Section 111 WCMSA Reporting.

CMS also incorporated the following notice into the NGHP User Guide:

As of January 1, 2024, the threshold for physical trauma-based liability insurance settlements will remain at $750. CMS will maintain the $750 threshold for no-fault insurance and workers’ compensation settlements, where the no-fault insurer or workers’ compensation entity does not otherwise have ongoing responsibility for medicals (Section 6.4).

The $750 reporting threshold has been in place for several years.

CMS included minor updates to the WCMSA Reference Guide, version 4.0

Specifically, CMS added:

Instruction specific to beneficiaries has been added to encourage them to use their Medicare.gov access to the portal for the most efficient method of submitting attestations (Sections 11.1.1 and 17.5).

For further information on electronic reporting of attestations, see the above-referenced sections in the guide or the Tower article, CMS Adds Electronic Submission Option for MSA Attestations.

CMS also amended the link in Section 10.3 to reflect the most recent CDC Life Table link. The life tables are used to determine life expectancy for calculation of the MSA.