Since 2019, Zotec Partners has been providing feedback on the useability of various aspects of CMS’ Identity & Access Management System (I&A) portal. This is the online portal to the CMS computer system where physician credentials are registered with Medicare. Without the required registration being completed, physicians that offer care to the 63.5 million + Medicare patients in the U.S., wouldn’t be eligible to receive payment from the government for their services. The I&A portal gives multiple access to Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership (PECOS), Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, and National Plan & Provider Enumerations System (NPPES).
Having a one stop shop to start the credentialing process is a great resource. Zotec, like many other RCM providers, acts as a “surrogate” for their clients so they can access, view and modify information within the CMS computer system to ensure compliance. However, it became clear to Zotec’s credentialing team that adding multiple clinicians with shared information wasn’t an option.
Stephanie Lambert, project analyst, with the credentialing department, has represented Zotec as an active user of CMS’ I&A Management System, “ Being part of the feedback process with CMS is very beneficial to our clients and our company,” said Stephanie. “However, in this specific instance, we continued to face significant inefficiencies since we could only request access to one physician’s information at a time.”
The credentialing team was determined to find a solution, and Stephanie reached out to her contacts at CMS. They received approval to send large files to CMS to load into the I&A Management System. Even though this proved to be a short term solution it wasn’t efficient, so Stephanie asked them to consider adding some type of functionality that made it possible to request access to multiple providers at the same time.
In early November 2022, CMS did exactly that when they deployed this functionality to the I&A Management System. “We are really grateful for our relationship with CMS and their receptivity to improving the usability of this system. It sounds like such a simple feature, but it enables our credentialing team to be much more effective and efficient,” Stephanie added. Zotec appreciates CMS’ willingness to consider this feature and taking the time to implement it. It makes ensuring compliance with credentialing that much easier.”
Learn more about Zotec Partners here.
