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The CWF and you: Making the most of a critical resource

Billing Alert for Long-Term Care, October 1, 2009

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Billing Alert for Long-Term Care.

As the database containing all Medicare beneficiary information, the Common Working File (CWF) offers an array of facts pertaining to benefit entitlements, claims validation, and other areas of coverage, making it one of the most useful resources available to billers.

When a person signs up for Medicare and a bill is submitted in the individual’s name, CMS creates a record of that person in the CWF. That record is updated in the database in accordance with the claims filed on behalf of the individual. The result is a thorough compilation of the beneficiary’s Medicare coverage history.

In other words, the CWF allows the government to maintain a database of who is entitled to Medicare funding and for what purpose, while providing SNFs and other healthcare facilities with a tool that puts every element of Part A and Part B benefit coordination in one easily accessible location.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Billing Alert for Long-Term Care.

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