Recently, MiraVista was contacted by a concerned supplier who found differences between the .csv and .pdf PECOS files they downloaded from CMS. The number of physicians in the .csv version didn’t match those in the .pdf. Naturally, we wanted to know why. So we rolled up our sleeves and did a little digging.

 

On June 29^th, Maureen Bacon, the controller for our sister billing company ClaraVista, went back to CMS’ website and downloaded the zipped .csv file. As it turns out, CMS modified the file after we first informed you about it on the 24^th. Here’s what we found: 

• The original file that was made available on June 24^th was named OrderReferringJune2010.csv. It was 18.0MB in size, and contained 687,819 lines. (Note: This is the one we first wrote about and is likely the one you downloaded.)
• The file that is now on the site was created by CMS on June 25^th at 8:41am and is named OrderReferring_June2010v2.csv. It is 18.1 MB in size and contains 719,024 lines.

Based on these findings, Bacon sent an inquiry to CMS asking if the .csv file, which now contains an additional 31,205 lines, would continue to be updated more frequently. CMS confirmed that the file will indeed be updated on a regular basis.

 

“If we don’t have any issues CMS plans to put a new file up twice per week,” wrote one CMS official.

 

Long story short, it looks like the .csv PECOS file will be updated more frequently than the monthly updates originally scheduled for the .pdf version. To our knowledge, CMS is not yet releasing announcements to let suppliers know each time a new file is posted.

 

The new .csv Zip file may be downloaded the same way as the previous version, by visiting:

http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/06_MedicareOrderingandReferring.asp.

 

Please be sure to bookmark this site, www.miravistallc.com/blog, and check back regularly for future PECOS news alerts and announcements!

 

Tags: ClaraVista, DME PECOS, Medicare PECOS, MiraVista, PECOS, PECOS Physician list

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Industry Events & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.