What does the new MSP statute of limitations mean for your cases?

Now that the federal government has a three-year window to file suit to recoup certain Medicare costs, what does that mean for your cases?

The new statute of limitations which took effect July 10, 2013, is not retroactive. So the timeframe only applies to cases in which a settlement or judgment/damage award is reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on or after July 10, 2013. Federal law mandates that insurance carriers and self-insured defendants report settlements or payments of damages, so that the government has notice of Medicare treatment it funded for which its beneficiaries later received a third-party payment. The U.S. government has the right to file suit to recoup these Medicare funds, only if parties have not previously arranged to reimburse Medicare for these expenses. If you have a process in place to address Medicare’s repayment rights, which you do if you’re a Garretson Resolution Group client, then you don’t have to worry.

This statute of limitations – which was implemented as part of a new law enacted this year – does not give the U.S. government any greater power than it already had under The Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP). The new provision just restricts the window in which the U.S. government can file suit to recover costs for which another party has legally assumed responsibility (via a settlement, judgment, or other award) but Medicare initially paid. Under the MSP, Medicare has both a subrogation right and an independent right of recovery to recoup its costs, if its so-called “liens” are not properly handled.