Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Pub. 100-04), Ch. 17 § 100.2.10
MSP Situations Under CAP
100.2.10 - MSP Situations Under CAP
(Rev. 1088, Issued: 10-27-06, Effective: 01-01-07, Implementation: 01-02-07)
Drugs Obtained Through the CAP for Beneficiaries With Insurance Primary to
Medicare
Providers who elect into the CAP voluntarily agree to obtain CAP drugs for Medicare
beneficiaries exclusively through an approved CAP vendor. In situations where
participating CAP providers obtain a drug from the CAP vendor for a beneficiary who is
incorrectly determined to have Medicare as their primary insurer, but the provider and the
CAP vendor must first bill the appropriate primary insurer for the drug and the
administration service.
Upon receipt of the primary insurer’s payment, MSP claims should then be submitted by
the physician to their A/B MAC (B) for the administration service and by the approved
CAP vendor to the CAP designated A/B MAC (B) for the drug. Providers are required to
submit MSP claims even if they believe there is no outstanding balance due. Such claims
must adhere to CAP guidelines and include the drug HCPCS code, the prescription
number provided by the approved CAP vendor and an appropriate CAP no-pay modifier.
Approved CAP vendor claims must also adhere to CAP requirements and include the
assigned prescription number.
All participating CAP providers to submit MSP claims for drug administration services
where the drug was obtained from the approved CAP vendor. Failure to submit an MSP
claim for the drug administration prevents the processing of the vendor’s MSP claim by
the CAP designated A/B MAC (B).
Drugs Obtained Outside of the CAP for Beneficiaries With Medicare
In certain rare situations, participating CAP providers may mistakenly obtain drugs for
Medicare beneficiaries outside of the CAP vendor because they had determined that the
beneficiary had another insurer that was primary to Medicare. In order to make an
appropriate payment for drugs administered under these unusual circumstances, we are
allowing temporary use of the J3 modifier to bypass CAP edits and pay the participating
CAP provider at the current ASP rate.
We have requested a modifier for use in this rare situation. A/B MACs (B) will be
notified through the usual quarterly update process when a new modifier is available. At
that time, the J3 modifier will no longer be accepted for this purpose.
As we expect the situations that require this modifier to be infrequent, A/B MACs (B)
have the ability to review claims with this modifier to monitor for proper use and
educational opportunities.
MSP Claims For Drugs Present on the Provider’s CAP Drug List
In order to prevent processing errors for MSP claims where the drug billed on the
provider’s claim is present on the selected CAP drug list, A/B MACs (B) are to
implement a SCF rule allowing an override of the CAP claims processing edits. This
SCF rule will allow claims to be identified as MSP and not require the CAP modifiers or
prescription number.