United Benefit Advisors Insight and Analysis Blog

Data Match is a program coordinated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to identify Medicare beneficiaries who received Medicare benefits with Medicare as the primary payer when Medicare should have been the secondary payer. We recently covered background on this program in a previous blog posting. Employers are required to complete the Data Match report within 30 days of receipt of the Data Match Personal Identification Number (PIN), unless an extension has been requested and approved. The letter directs employers to the Data Match Secure Website, where the questionnaire can be accessed after entering the employer identification number and PIN.

Beginning in early 2016, many employers received letters from the IRS-SSA-CMS Data Match program. These letters are addressed to the employer and begin by stating that "Medicare needs your cooperation." Employers are directed to report information on the IRS/SSA/CMS Data Match Secure Web Site (https://www.cob.cms.hhs.gov/DataMatch/). The data being requested is often extensive, and can cover a number of years.