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CMS releases updated WCMSA Reference Guide

April 17, 2024 · Medicare Insights Team

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an updated Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside (WCMSA) Reference Guide, Version 4.0, dated April 1, 2024.

The following instructions have been added to encourage beneficiaries to use their Medicare.gov access to the portal for the most efficient method of submitting attestations:

Section 11.1.1 added: Beneficiaries may submit attestations online by accessing the portal via their Medicare.gov account.
Section 17.5 added: Beneficiaries can submit attestations online by accessing the portal via their Medicare.gov account, and professional administrators can submit directly through the WCMSAP—see details in Section 17.6.

Also, Section 10.3 of the guide includes an updated CDC Life Table link to the United States Life Tables, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf.

Future updates

Optum Settlement Solutions will continue to keep the industry updated on all aspects of Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) compliance, including issues pertaining to WCMSAs.

For questions regarding the above updates, please contact Medicare.Compliance@optum.com.

A copy of the guide can be found at Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside Arrangements.