Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Office of Medicaid
600 Washington Street
Boston, MA  02111
www.mass.gov/masshealth
 	

MassHealth
All Provider Bulletin 178
September 2008


To:
All Providers Participating in MassHealth
From:
Tom Dehner, Medicaid Director
RE:
Point-of-Service (POS) Device Termination

Background
As part of the preparation for NewMMIS implementation, 
MassHealth is discontinuing the use of the point-of-service (POS) 
devices (Verifone Omni 395/396), otherwise known as the REVS 
POS device machines. MassHealth has contacted those providers 
who use only the POS device to inform them of this impending 
change.
If you currently use POS for eligibility inquiries and have not been 
contacted by the REVS HelpDesk on what options are available to 
you, please call 1-800-462-7738 and select option 1 and then 5 for 
assistance.

Reason for Termination
The primary reasons for discontinuing the support of the REVS 
POS devices are the availability of more efficient access methods 
to verify eligibility, popular use of the Internet for verifying eligibility, 
and the implementation of NewMMIS.

Other Access Methods
Eligibility verification will now be exclusively supported by the 
following access methods.
*	WebREVS (www.massrevs.eds.com – but will shortly change to 
a new site address)
*	EVSpc Software
*	Automated Voice Response (AVR) System (1-800-554-0042)
*	Alternative third-party POS devices and software solutions
These methods provide more detailed eligibility responses than are 
currently displayed on the POS devices.
 (continued on next page)




Timeline for Termination
The shutdown will mean that all MassHealth providers who rely 
on the POS device will need to switch to other access methods by 
October 31, 2008. Providers will no longer be able to submit 
eligibility verification inquiries using the POS devices after this 
date.
30 days before the termination date, providers using the POS 
devices will receive a restrictive message stating:
“This device will stop functioning on October 31, 2008. Call the 
REVS HelpDesk at 800-462-7738 option 2 and then 5 with 
questions.”

POS Device Disposal
Before disposing of your POS device, please ensure that you 
wipe out any member information that may remain on the device. 
You can do this by verifying eligibility for an invalid member ID, to 
get an invalid response. For assistance, you may call the REVS 
HelpDesk, and select option 2 and then 5.

Questions
If you have questions about the information in this bulletin, please 
contact the REVS HelpDesk at 1-800-462-7738, or e-mail your 
inquiry to REVSHelpDesk@eds.com.