This communication is relevant to any Plan Sponsor who uses a Vendor to submit retiree and/or cost data on their behalf, and whose Vendor uses a data transfer method that requires a Vendor ID and unique connectivity and testing (e.g., Connect:Direct, Coordination of Benefits (COB) via Voluntary Data Sharing Agreement (VDSA)).
CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind the Plan Sponsor community, and the Vendors who support them, about important RDS Program policies regarding Vendor Technical Contacts.
As agents of Plan Sponsors, it is critical that data submission Vendors provide and maintain accurate contact information for CMS’ RDS Center. Please contact CMS’ RDS Center immediately when there are changes to your organization’s Vendor Technical Contacts. Failure to do so could result in a missed deadline and possible loss of subsidy for the Plan Sponsor.
A Vendor Technical Contact must be a registered Secure Website (SWS) user to receive application-specific information from CMS’ RDS Center. If a Technical Contact is not a registered SWS user associated to specific applications, the individual cannot receive application-specific file information, such as Plan Sponsor IDs, Application IDs, or any other privileged information that is specific to Plan Sponsor accounts and applications.
Technical Contacts who are required to communicate with CMS’ RDS Center about privileged Plan Sponsor information must work directly with their Plan Sponsors to complete user account registration and ensure that assignments to applications are accurate. Please refer to User Management for helpful information on this topic.
When critical issues are identified with file submissions related to specific applications, CMS’ RDS Center shall contact the appropriate active Account Manager, Authorized Representative, and Designee(s) with relevant privileges (i.e., Report Costs, View/Send/Receive Retiree Data). If a specific application cannot be identified, or there are no active SWS users at the Plan Sponsor organization, CMS’ RDS Center shall contact the Vendor Technical Contact and provide as much information as possible based on their Secure Website user account status.
Pursuant to 423.888(b), “[p]ayment under 423.886 is conditioned on provision of accurate information.” Therefore, when file errors are encountered, CMS cannot calculate the subsidy amount or make payment until the Plan Sponsor, or a data submission Vendor working on the Plan Sponsors behalf, has provided accurate information.
Background
A Vendor is a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM), Health Plan, or other third-party company that a Plan Sponsor may contract to report cost data or manage retirees for the Plan Sponsor's Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) applications.
The Technical Contact is CMS’ RDS Center’s point of contact throughout the Vendor onboarding process and should be familiar with firewalls, networking, and other technical aspects of the connection method. After Vendor onboarding is complete, the Technical Contact is also CMS’ RDS Center’s point of contact when addressing many production support and technical support issues arising from RDS data submission, such as critical errors, missing Electronic Transmittal Forms (ETF), configuration changes, etc.
If you need more information, contact CMS' RDS Center.