PECOS Enrollment for Home Health and Hospice

PECOS Enrollment Validation.

There is have been a lot of questions regarding the PECOS enrollment and I will attempt to answer them all in this post.

PECOS stands for Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System. It manages, tracks and validates all enrollment data. You can view the powerpoint here.

In the April 21, 2006 Federal Register, CMS published rules regarding the revalidation of agency enrollments at least every 5 years (even if the information has not changed).  http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-3722.pdf. This revalidation process is one of the reasons why CMS created the PECOS system. Providers can avoid the time-consuming paperwork and complete their revalidation, enroll as a new provider, and make updates to their agency information online.

You can review the Medicare supplier/provider enrollment brochure here.  This will give you more instructions on how to enroll in the PECOS system.

Next, the CR# 6669 from October 2, 2009 required the contractors to begin the revalidation process for all Home Health providers without a PECOS record.  http://www.cms.gov/transmittals/downloads/R567OTN.pdf.

And now these new instructions regarding the “risk category” from the Feb. 2, 2011 Federal Register state, “All newly enrolling or revalidating providers must establish records in PECOS as this is the only available enrollment option at this time.” Page 5947.

In summary, HHAs very likely already have a PECOS entry … if you don’t then it will be required by your next revalidation period. But in the long run, why not? Its electronic, its easy and its secure. If you ever have a need to update your information it is all online.

Review the information about the PECOS system and get logged on. PECOS isn’t just for physicians.