November 12, 2019
2020 A/B Provider Outreach and Education (POE) Advisory Group Membership Drive
CGS is pleased to announce its 2020 Jurisdiction 15 Provider Outreach and Education Advisory Group (POE-AG) membership drive. We are required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to support and maintain a POE-AG. CGS is currently accepting applications for new members. If you are interested in being a part of this important committee, please pay close attention to the Purpose and Goals of the POE Advisory Group and the responsibilities shown below.
Going forward, the Advisory Group will be a combination of both Part A and Part B providers (Facility/hospital/physician association representatives, compliance officers, key personnel who submit Part A or Part B claims). The membership will consist of two year commitment. CGS has created the Provider Outreach & Education Advisory Group Covenant that summarizes the purpose and goals of the group. The covenant also details the responsibilities of CGS as the MAC and you as an active member.
The primary function of the Advisory Group is to assist the contractor in the creation, implementation, and review of provider education strategies and efforts. The Advisory Group provides input and feedback on training topics, provider education materials, and dates and locations of provider education workshops and events. The group also identifies salient provider education issues, and recommends effective means of information dissemination to all appropriate providers and their staff, including the use of the PCC to disseminate information to providers. Reference:CMS Medicare Contractor Beneficiary and Provider Communications Manual (Pub. 100-09), chapter 6, section 20.6.1.
The goals are:
- Reduce CERT error rate through education
- Improve provider clean claims submission
- Enhance the CGS customer experience
The members of the combined group will have professional and geographic diversity to include both urban and rural providers of major provider specialties and provider institutions from our jurisdiction.
The responsibilities of the members include:
- Share information relating to the selection of topics, types and/or locations for educational forums
- Review and provide feedback on educational materials, CGS communications and other initiatives
- Present ideas and suggestions in order to enhance the CGS Customer Experience
- Disseminate and share educational information with the provider community
- Participate in and provide feedback on a minimum of one educational event per quarter
- Attend a minimum of 2 POE AG Meetings per calendar year
- Actively participate in meetings by completing assignments and contributing to discussion
- Actively participate in MAC surveys
Our responsibilities as your MAC include:
- Consider the suggestions and recommendations of the members and implement those deemed feasible, practicable, and in the best interest of the customer
- Provide feedback on decisions for not implementing or adopting any member suggestions or recommendations
- Solicit and manage membership of POE AG
- Conduct quarterly POE AG meetings in-person or via teleconferencing/webinar platform
- Hold members accountable for active participation in the POE AG
- Produce and distribute agenda and minutes
- Maintain adequate records of the POE AG proceeding
Registration for the 2020 J15 A/B POE-AG is scheduled to begin November 15th, 2019. If you would like to apply, please visit the POE Advisory Group section located in the Education and Events page of our website at https://cgsmedicare.com/parta/education/poeag.html for Part A or https://cgsmedicare.com/partb/education/poeag.html for Part B on or after November 15th. Registration is scheduled to close January 15th, 2020. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to our education mailboxes at J15_PartA_Education@cgsadmin.com for Part A or J15_PartB_Education@cgsadmin.com for Part B.