The cyberattack on Change Healthcare in February created financial hardships for nearly a million physicians across the country, including allergists. On June 17, CMS announced that the program it created to help mitigate these hardships – the Accelerated and Advance Payment (AAP) Program for the Change Healthcare/Optum Payment Disruption (CHOPD) – would stop accepting applications after July 12, 2024.
Program Closure
After July 12, 2024, CMS will no longer accept new applications for CHOPD accelerated or advance payments. In its announcement, CMS stated that providers and suppliers are once again successfully billing Medicare, and CMS has already recovered more than 96% of CHOPD payments. CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said, “Our efforts helped minimize the disruptive fallout from this incident, and we will remain vigilant to be ready to address future events.”
CMS encouraged anyone who continues to experience difficulty billing or receiving payment to contact Change Healthcare and/or their Medicare Administrative Contractor.
Background
In early March 2024, CMS made CHOPD accelerated payments available to Medicare Part A providers (such as hospitals) and advance payments to Medicare Part B practitioners (such as physicians) experiencing cash flow disruptions because of the cyberattack. The CHOPD payments were intended to cover up to 30 days of Medicare claims and were required to be repaid within 90 days after they were issued. Providers and practitioners were eligible to participate if, as a result of the cyberattack, they experienced a delay in claims submission and processing that disrupted their Medicare Part A or Part B claims payments.
According to CMS, more than 4,200 Part A providers received CHOPD accelerated payments, totaling more than $2.55 billion. CMS issued 4,722 CHOPD advance payments, totaling more than $717.18 million, to Part B providers.
The Advocacy Council – ADVOCATING FOR ALLERGISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS.
