Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting an "Open Door Forum Conference Call" to provide an opportunity for live dialogue between CMS and the Medicaid provider community in the States of Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina. The call will be held Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 3: 00pm to 4:30pm, EST, details are below.

The Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) program is designed to measure improper payments in the Medicaid and CHIP programs, as required by the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA; Public Law 107-300). The purpose of this open door forum conference call is to educate Medicaid providers about PERM and their specific responsibilities during the PERM process. Provider forum participants will learn from PERM related presentations such as;

• An overview of the PERM Program, the PERM process and what you may be required to do during a PERM review.
• The documentation request letter/ what are your responsibilities when the documentation request letter is received.
• The follow up schedule and the requirements.
• Frequent mistakes and best practices.

The following materials will be discussed and are available at the PERM Providers page of the CMS Website, http://www.cms.gov/PERM/.

• PERM 101 for Medicaid Providers
• Sample document request letter

Joining the Conference:

1. In the 10 minutes prior to the call's start time, Call lines will be available by calling the Participant Dial-In Number: *US/Canada Dial-in #: (800) 603 - 1774 Your Conference ID # is 77687373. Please provide the following participant information that will include the following: State Organization # of persons in the room
2. Provide the Operator with the Conference ID Number.
3. Helpful keypad commands:
• 0 - Operator Assistance
• 5 - Group Mute/Unmute
• 6 - Self Mute/Unmute
• 7 - Lock conference to additional participants

Encore is available for this call which is a digital recording of the conference and will be available for replay two hours after the call's completion. The date range that the conference replay will be available through dialing the Encore Dial In # :(800) 642-1687 or (706) 645-9291 is 06/16/2010 16:30 EST - 06/18/2010 23:59 EST. There will be time available for Q&A's however, CMS encourages your questions to be submitted in advance to our designated PERM Provider email address at; PERMProviders@cms.hhs.gov or, you may also contact your State PERM Representatives with any questions and for information about educational and training events in your area.

For Kentucky Providers: Evette.Rhodes@ky.gov

For Nebraska providers: Betsie.Steenson@nebraska.gov

For North Carolina Providers: Peggy.Scott@dhhs.nc.gov

For Tennessee Providers: David.Estes@tn.gov

For South Carolina Providers: Cindy Durrett - durrett@scdhhs.gov

Please check the CMS Website's PERM Provider page regularly for additional Provider Education information and updates at http://www.cms.gov/PERM/.