MIR-2006-9AB, September 2006

New Site for Medicare Provider Service Toll-Free Numbers (SE0655)

Provider Types Affected
All Medicare physicians, providers, and suppliers

Impact on Providers
This article is mainly for informational purposes and discusses a new and more convenient Web address and site that houses toll-free numbers that physicians, providers, and suppliers can use to contact their Medicare contractor (carriers, including durable medical equipment (DME) regional carriers and DME Medicare administrative contractors (DME MACs), and fiscal intermediaries, including regional home health intermediaries (RHHIs).

Background
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to announce to all Medicare physicians, providers, and suppliers, a new and improved Web site for accessing Medicare Contractor Provider Call Center toll-free number information. The new site is located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/CallCenterTollNumDirectory.zip   on the CMS Web site.

This change is a result of replacing the previous “Provider Call Center Toll-Free Numbers Directory” (with map) document with an Excel® file that contains all of the information previously available plus many improvements.

The original document proved difficult to update and download while keeping the functionality of the map intact. The new Excel’s smaller file size allows for a significantly faster download, and the improved functionality provided by the pull-down menus makes more targeted contact information available while filtering the displays appearing on the screen.

Additionally, a “Coverage Area” column has been added to the original four columns of information (i.e., State Served, Call Center, Program, and Toll-Free Number), and each column has a menu allowing users to filter the information displayed on the screen. Selecting the menus to “ALL” resets the spreadsheet to display all available information.

Many of the existing MLN Matters articles contain links to the previous map document, which was http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/CallCenterTollNumDirectory.pdf    on the CMS Web site. As you can see, the new address is almost identical, except for the last three characters, “ pdf,” which are now “ zip.”

Please be aware that articles already housed on the MLN Matters pages will not be updated with the new link, except where such articles are revised in the future for other reasons. However, those providers who have been using the map document directory should already know where to find it within the CMS Web site and should, therefore, be able to locate the new document.

The directory is also prominent on all MLN pages and should be easy to find. In fact, now might be a good time to bookmark the new address or add it to your “Favorites” list:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/CallCenterTollNumDirectory.zip.

The new spreadsheet directory will be updated approximately once every three months, more often if necessary. As previously mentioned, you can access the new file from all major MLN Web pages, including the main section pages at:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNGenInfo/  

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/  

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/  

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNEdWebGuide/  

The new file can be downloaded directly from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/CallCenterTollNumDirectory.zip   on the CMS Web site.

CMS hopes you find this new site to be useful, and we invite your comments and feedback on this and other Medicare Learning Network Web-based products. You can provide such feedback by going to http://questions.cms.hhs.gov/cgi-bin/cmshhs.cfg/php/enduser/site_fdbck.php on the CMS Web site.

Disclaimer
This article was prepared as a service to the public and is not intended to grant rights or impose obligations. This article may contain references or links to statutes, regulations, or other policy materials. The information provided is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. We encourage readers to review the specific statutes, regulations and other interpretive materials for a full and accurate statement of their contents.

MLN Matters Number: SE0655
Related Change Request (CR) #: N/A
Effective Date: N/A

Do you have your NPI? National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) will be required on claims sent on or after May 23, 2007. Every health care provider needs to get an NPI. Learn more about the NPI and how to apply for an NPI by visiting http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/   on the CMS Web site.