On October 5, 2020, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released Version 3.2 of the WCMSA Reference Guide. CMS identified the following changes:
- To define the major medical centers that the Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor (WCRC) uses to estimate future medical expenses in proposed WCMSA’s, a list of major medical centers, organized by state, medical center name, National Provider Identifier (NPI), and ZIP code, has been provided (Section 9.4.4 and Appendix 7).
The major medical centers identified for the State of Illinois are as follows:
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
- Memorial Medical Center – Springfield
- OSF Saint Francis Medical Center
- The University of Chicago Medical Center
The WCMSA Reference Guide is the Medicare Set Aside Bible. Every workers’ compensation attorney should read it, and keep a copy close by for easy reference. If you have a workers’ compensation claim and have applied for or are receiving Social Security Disability Benefits, or if you are already a Medicare beneficiary, you need to make sure that any settlement you agree to protects Medicare’s interests. Feel free to contact me anytime for a free consultation.