Palmetto GBA intends to demonstrate its commitment to our partnership by sharing with you the process improvements we implement based on your feedback. We value your comments and opinions, and have provided a number of ways for you to reach out to us, including the Provider Experience Survey. In addition to the direct feedback we regularly receive from our providers, we will be conducting quarterly focus groups, Ask-the-Contractor Teleconferences (ACTs) and Provider Outreach and Education Advisory Groups (POE-AGs) in order to uncover areas that are ripe for improvement. By working together we can enhance your experience and elevate the level of service, education, information and transparency you have come to expect from Palmetto GBA.

We value your feedback and your suggestions and we look forward to a culture of continual improvement in the way we conduct business and serve our providers. Because you have taken the time to provide feedback, Palmetto GBA has taken action to implement the following enhancements:

• Providers may now submit Influenza, Pneumococcal and COVID-19 services via roster billing in eServices
• Expanded the types of clerical reopenings that can be submitted via the Part B claim inquiry feature in eServices
• eServices Part B claim status can now be retrieved by searching by claim number
• Added ability for users to view their account administrators in the My Account feature in eServices
• View overpayment balance information via our eServices online portal. The portal will display real-time status of your accounts receivable (AR) or demand letter balances to include the principal AR balance, interest AR balance and total AR balance.
• eAudit dropdown choice enhancement. This new enhancements only shows the choices available for each line of business.
• Added Target Probe and Educate (TPE) result letters to be available as greenmail in the portal
• Enhanced new account registration to leverage EDI enrollment process. The link to portal registration, along with an access code, is now sent in the EDI enrollment packet.
• Use the Outpatient Prior Authorization (OPA) status tool to retrieve the status of your prior authorization request. Status information is updated approximately 24 hours after each transaction. The status results displayed are sorted by most current.
• The Overpayment Interest Rate Calculator may be used to determine how much interest you have accrued on an unpaid overpayment by using the demand letter
• eServices displays the start and end dates and billing National Provider Identifier (NPI) for inpatient hospital and skilled nursing facility (SNF) stays
• When using the MBI Lookup Tool to obtain a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) for a deceased beneficiary, eServices will now look back up to four years of the date of death
• The patient’s current status, which identifies if they were discharged or still a patient, will now display in the eServices portal. Information is available once it has been reported through the patient’s master record.
• Palmetto GBA’s Outpatient Department Prior Authorization Calculator will help you determine the time you have remaining to perform the approved procedure before the authorization expires.
• Google Authentication is now available to provide an immediate multi-factor authentication code to expedite your log in to eServices. This is in response to feedback provided from the website surveys.
• Palmetto GBA has implemented new “Disable User” functionality in eServices that will disable a user that has been inactive for 30 days instead of terminating the User ID. Administrators will now be able to enable the user up to 120 days after 30 days of inactivity. If the user ID is not enabled within this time, the account will be terminated. We will send notification to providers through a series of periodic emails (up to the 120-day limit) to remind the user of their status and provide instructions to re-enable eServices IDs.
• Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) can now submit claims in eServices
• The eServices eCheck feature now supports Excel files. In addition to PDF (.pdf) files, providers are now able to submit Excel (.xls, .xlsx) files when submitting eCheck attachments in eServices.
• eServices Profile Verification has been extended from 90 to 250 days, allowing more time for you to complete this process. During this time, please make sure that all eServices user ID profiles are up to date to avoid interruption or deactivation.
• We added a Check Eligibility button to the MBI Lookup tab in eServices in order to save you time when checking a beneficiary’s Medicare eligibility. With the MBI Lookup tab open, you will find the Check Eligibility button at the bottom of your screen.
• Palmetto GBA continues to develop tools to improve service and efficiency, and our new eTicket is no exception. eTicket will save you time when contacting the Provider Contact Center (PCC) about a particular issue on multiple occasions. When you speak to a customer care representative by phone, a numeric inquiry number or eTicket is generated which provides a reference to the subject matter of your conversation with our PCC. When you call us with additional follow-up questions or for more information specific to a prior call, you can input your eTicket number into the IVR. Upon being transferred to a service representative, your topic of inquiry and data related to your previous call with Palmetto GBA will automatically be presented on the service representative’s screen, expediting their ability to serve you.
• In response to provider feedback, we have updated the LCDs and Related Articles tables to designate which contract (Part A, Part B, home health or hospice) they apply to.
• We have extended the time that a multi-factor authentication (MFA) code can be used. Providers are now able to use their MFA codes for up to 12 hours. This allows providers to simply reuse the last valid code issued. An MFA code will expire 12 hours from the time it was requested or when a new MFA code is generated.
• ePass: Authentication is required before Palmetto GBA is authorized to discuss Medicare information with a provider. The ePass is an eight-digit code providers can elect to receive, per each NPI and PTAN combination, following their first-time authentication when they call the PCC. The goal of the ePass is to ease provider burden by eliminating the need to repeatedly authenticate each time you contact the PCC in a given day.
• To improve your customer service experience when calling our contact center:
  • Added the ability to select to go straight to a Customer Service Advocate (CSA) in the main menu
  • Minimized the number of up front messages played
  • Allowed CSAs to handle multiple inquiries per call
  • Reviewing top inquiry data and identifying providers to proactively schedule concierge appointments
• Providers are able to give immediate feedback on their customer service experience with Palmetto GBA through our Provider Experience survey
• Providers can now easily access their remits straight from the eServices claim status screen
• We have simplified the Jurisdiction J Call Flowchart. This process allows callers to quickly navigate through the main menu for faster access to the information you need.
• Multiple educational modules and tools were added in 2018:
  • Targeted Probe and Educate Process Module
  • Basics of Provider Level Balance (PLB) Reason Codes Module
  • eServices: Learn More About eCBR Video
  • Top 10 Medical Review Denials Module