National Government Services, Inc. Medicare Monthly Review Part A and B
A Combined Part A and Part B Newsletter

Enterprise Data Center (EDC) Transition

The transition of the Empire Data Center to Companion Data Services (CDS), which was originally scheduled for October 29, 2007, will now take place on Monday, December 17, 2007. Based on this new schedule, the system will be unavailable on December 14 and 15, 2007. All system functions will resume on December 17, 2007. The article below, which was originally published regarding this transition, has been updated to reflect the new dates.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently competed and awarded several contracts for the Enterprise Data Centers (EDC) for Medicare Fee-for-Service (FSS) claims processing. For our FFS claims processing requirements, CMS has selected Companion Data Services (CDS) as the EDC contractor responsible for this task.

This notification is to advise all National Government Services, Inc. providers of our upcoming transition from the Empire Data Center to Companion Data Services (CDS). It is anticipated that the transition will be effective on December 17, 2007.

In preparation for this EDC transition, the system will be unavailable on December 14 and 15, 2007. It is expected that all system functions will resume as normal on Monday, December 17, 2007.

With this transition, providers can expect several changes and will be required to take action with regard to some of these changes. The following is a preliminary listing and requires your immediate attention.

Replacement of Existing FISS/DDE New User IDs:

National Government Services will be issuing new FISS User IDs that will replace your current User IDs. To facilitate this task we required patient account managers to complete and electronically submit the online “New FISS User IDs Forms” located at http://www.empiremedicare.com/omnipro/forms/newuser.htm by November 30 , 2007. The purpose of this form is to obtain a single point of contact to communicate the new User IDs. The EDI Department will communicate these to the identified contact based on the Preferred Contact Method indicated in the form. .

If you have IDs that are no longer in use, please visit our Web site at http://www.empiremedicare.com/omnipro/forms/mc1064.pdf and complete a Medicare Part A Provider Logon Request Form to request that unused IDs be deleted.

Please do not send in OMNIPRO Logon Request Forms or User Lists for your existing DDE users; that information is on file. We only require notification of any logons that are no longer in use that can be deleted.

The assignment of the new FISS IDs will start in early December. Updated documentation and the opportunity for training via a Web cast will be available before the December transition.

System Availability (Including IVR):
6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) - Monday-Friday
6:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) - Saturday

Online Screen Changes:
With the implementation of this transition, the OMNIPRO logon screen will be replaced with an EDC logon screen.

Supporting documentation regarding this screen change and logon instructions will be communicated prior to the transition. NOTE: There will be no changes to the FISS/DDE application screens.

We do expect additional system changes, not outlined in this listing, and will continue to provide updates as they become available. National Government Services is committed to making this transition as seamless as possible for its users. In order to keep providers abreast of the progress made and participation required, we have created a Web page that will be dedicated to this transition. The EDC Transition page is easily accessed from our home page, under In the Spotlight.

If you have any questions regarding the transition, please contact 1-888-855-4356.