[Source: Health Lawyers Weekly, February 8, 2008 - AHLA]
By Janice Ziegler, Ramy Fayed, and Katie Pawlitz, Sonnenschein, Nath, and Rosenthal LLP
On December 19, 2007, Congress passed the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007* (the Act), which included modifications to the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) laws. The Act, which was signed into law on December 29, 2007, imposes significant new obligations on insurers, third party administrators (TPAs), and plan administrators or fiduciaries of group health plans that are both self-insured and self administered (Plan Administrators). Specifically, it requires all of these entities for the first time to (1) secure certain information from group health plan sponsors and plan participants, and (2) share such information with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It also provides significant penalties for failure to do so. This article discusses the MSP amendments and their impact in further detail.
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* Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-173, § 111(a)(7)(A), 121 Stat. 2492, 2497-2498, available here
