Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Office of Medicaid
www.mass.gov/masshealth
	MassHealth
	All Provider Bulletin 207
	January 2011




	TO:	All Providers Participating in MassHealth

	FROM:	Terence G. Dougherty, Medicaid Director 

	RE:	Reduction of Paper Claim Forms


Introduction	To reduce costs and to act in an environmentally responsible manner, MassHealth 
is initiating a paper reduction project and is requesting your cooperation in 
reducing the number of MassHealth claims that you submit on paper. 


Electronic	Options With the implementation of NewMMIS in May 2009, the need to submit paper 
	claim forms was significantly reduced. Providers can now submit most claims 
electronically through the Provider Online Service Center (POSC) in one of two 
ways:
*	Batch 837 Submissions; or 
*	Direct Data Entry (DDE). 
If you have not yet begun submitting electronic claims, please consider these 
simple options, which save money and time for both your organization and the 
Commonwealth. 


Survey		MassHealth recently conducted a survey with providers who submit a large 
portion of their claims on paper to try to understand what obstacles providers face 
when billing their claims electronically. The most common reasons given for 
submitting paper claims were high percentages of coordination of benefit (COB) 
claims—that is, claims for members with Medicare and/or other insurance, and 
special claims processing, including 90-day waiver requests and final deadline 
appeals.

      
Electronic 	Submission of Submission of COB Claims	Providers may submit COB claims electronically through Batch 837 submissions 
	and through DDE. If you have questions about COB billing, please contact
	MassHealth Customer Service at 1-800-841-2900, e-mail your inquiry to 
providersupport@mahealth.net, or fax your inquiry to 617-988-8974.


Special Claims Processing	MassHealth expects that providers will have an opportunity to submit their 
 	requests for 90-day waivers and final deadline appeals electronically beginning in 
January 2012. This coincides with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 
(CMS) implementation of the 5010 electronic health care transactions. Providers 
will need to continue to submit 90-day waivers and final deadline appeals on 
paper until this date. MassHealth will share additional information about this 
matter with providers as soon as it becomes available.

	
Electronic	Claims Testing  and Questions   MassHealth appreciates your assistance in reducing the volume of paper claim
	submissions, as it reduces state and provider costs. You may also experience
	fewer claim denials, since electronic claim submissions have historically resulted 
in lower rates of denied claims. If you have not yet tested for electronic 
submissions or COB, or if you have questions about the information in this 
bulletin, please contact MassHealth Customer Service as soon as possible at 
1-800-841-2900, e-mail your inquiry to providersupport@mahealth.net, or fax your 
inquiry to 617-988-8974.