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

MMR-2008- 03AB, October 2008

M2 Migration Cutover Date Extended
Attention: Medicare Electronic Submitters and Receivers

National Government Services has extended its deadline beyond February 15, 2008 for providers to migrate from the legacy gateway to the M2 system for electronic claims submission. A new deadline will be communicated within the coming weeks. However, any Medicare provider or electronic trading partner who conducts business with National Government Services electronically is encouraged to migrate to the M2 EDI Gateway as soon as possible. This includes electronic claim submission; download of electronic remittance advice (ERA); eligibility downloads, etc. If a provider utilizes the services of a billing service or clearinghouse, they will also be affected by this migration.

Failure to migrate by the newly established deadline will cause your EDI claim submissions to reject once we close down the current EDI Gateway. For more complete details on the M2 Migration, visit our Web site at http://www.empiremedicare.com/edi/index.htm.

In September 2007, we notified all of our providers of changes to our Electronic Gateway. National Government Services will be migrating from our current EDI Gateway in our Staten Island, New York location to a consolidated data center located in Shelbyville, Kentucky. National Government Services has purchased a translator, called M2. This move will result in efficiencies to our overall EDI operation. The purpose of this standardization is to be able to process Medicare electronic transactions in a uniform manner within National Government Services and provide you with a greater level of customer service.

Medicare providers who utilize a connectivity vendor should contact their vendor (e.g., IVANs or Visionshare) to obtain necessary software upgrades to connect with the M2 system.

Quick Start Tips for M2 Migration
The following are some quick tips to assist with your migration to the new M2 EDI gateway. For additional details on the migration, including helpful frequently asked questions, please visit our Web site at http://www.empiremedicare.com/edi/index.htm

  1. Connectivity vendors, Visionshare and IVANs, will be conducting teleconferences that will feature training on how to use their software to submit claims, retrieve remittances, and download reports. The intent of the training is to address common issues and fixes as well as give providers and trading partners a forum for to ask questions directly to their vendor. Visit our Web site under the News link for details on these training sessions.
  2. Your current submitter numbers are being replaced by a new M2 trading partner ID. All current submitters should have received their new M2 ID. If you have not received your M2 ID, please e-mail your request to:
  3. Your new M2 trading partner ID will act as your logon ID for the M2 system and as your submitter number.
  4. Your current submitter number will need to be replaced in the files that you send to Medicare. Most likely there is a set up table in your practice management system where the current submitter number is housed. When you are ready to migrate to the M2 system, the current submitter number will need to be changed.
  5. You have several options available for connectivity to the M2 system. There are network service vendors who offer communication packages. Network service vendors include, but are not limited to: IVANS, Vision Share, ECC, etc. In addition, you can also connect directly to M2 through a dialup bulletin board system or dialup FTP.
  6. If you currently use a network service vendor for connectivity, please contact them for the specific software upgrades or information regarding the M2 migration.
  7. When you have your new M2 ID and you have upgraded your connectivity software, you are ready to send a file to the M2 system.
  8. The initial default password which has been assigned will expire when you first login. The default password was given to you along with you new M2 submitter ID. You will need to define a unique password for your office. The password criteria are as follows: Passwords must be eight characters in length; must include alpha and numeric characters; and must include a special character. Note that the password is case sensitive.
  9. We recommend that you send a test file prior to sending production files. This is not a requirement. To send a test file, prepare a claims file with a “T” indicator in the ISA15 segment.
  10. Once you begin sending production files to M2, all reports and files will be delivered to you through the M2 system.
  11. For Part B providers, follow the instructions on our Web site, http://www.empiremedicare.com/edi/index.htm, for the correct provider number formatting for the billing and rendering provider.
  12. When you send a file to the M2 system you will receive three reports: the TRN report; 997 transaction report; and the GenResponse (Claim Confirmation) report. These reports should be generated with in a few minutes. For more details on how to interpret the GenResponse report, please visit our Web site at http://www.empiremedicare.com/edi/index.htm
  13. Part B providers will also receive the MCS Edit Report (Validation) report that is generated approximately 24 hours after your claim submission.

Please note: Any new provider that needs to be linked to an existing submitter number, will only be linked to the New M2 Submitter ID. We no longer allow providers to be linked to the established OMNIPRO submitter number.

Applies to all providers except Part A MA, ME, NH, VT, and Part B New Jersey