Announcements

In the coming months, CMS will introduce RDS Plan Sponsors to the new CMS Office of Hearings Case and Document Management System (OH CDMS). The OH CDMS is a web-based portal for RDS Plan Sponsors to submit and manage their Second Level Informal Hearing Appeals and to correspond with the CMS Hearing Officer. The RDS Secure Website (SWS) and the OH CDMS portal are separate web applications requiring separate and unique registrations and account management. This change will only be relevant to Plan Sponsors who pursue an RDS Second Level Appeal.

CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind RDS Secure Website (SWS) users that for an Application to be considered timely, a Plan Sponsor must submit a Valid Initial Retiree List to CMS' RDS Center prior to the expiration of the Application Deadline, and that Retiree List must contain at least one Qualified Covered Retiree. Initial Retiree Lists are processed by CMS' RDS Center after the Application is submitted by the Authorized Representative. When the Valid Initial Retiree List is submitted and the format is validated, the Initial Retiree List Received Date displays on the Application Overview page. It can take several days after a successful file transfer for the application to show that the Valid Initial Retiree List is complete.

CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind RDS Secure Website (SWS) users: don’t wait until the last minute to complete your Application. Confirm your access to the RDS Secure Website now!

CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind RDS users that with the release of the modernized Secure Website (SWS) in April 2022, a new Copy Application feature is now available. Use this enhancement to create a new application by copying information from an existing prior application.

On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, CMS’ RDS Center posted an Announcement regarding an agency wide e-mail outage over the Labor Day holiday. Please be advised that the RDS Center is unable to receive inbound inquiries from end users using the rds@cms.hhs.gov e-mail address or Support Requests submitted through the RDS Secure Website at this time due to a technical issue. Outbound e-mails from the RDS Center are unaffected by this technical issue. CMS’ RDS Center is working diligently to resolve the technical issue with an estimated restoration of service by noon today, September 7, 2022.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon implement changes to the Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) Second Level Informal Hearing Appeals process.

CMS will be undertaking an agency e-mail transition over Labor Day weekend. As a result, RDS e-mail services will be unavailable from 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 2, 2022 until 6:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Do not send e-mails or Support Requests to CMS’ RDS Center during this time, as they will not be delivered. Do not register for a user account during this window. Do not perform any User Management functions during this window (e.g., Password resets, role assignments, etc.).
 

In order to meet program requirements, RDS Plan Sponsors and RDS Actuaries will need to review the H.R.5376 Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and 42 C.F.R. §423.884(d), and attest actuarial equivalence for their retirees. These revisions are applicable for Plan Years starting January 1, 2023 and thereafter.

Our latest enhancement is a new, automated Reconciliation Reset function in the Secure Website. Previously, Plan Sponsors in this scenario emailed a support request to CMS’ RDS Center to request that Reconciliation steps be reset so that new retiree data could be submitted. In the new, modernized Secure Website the Account Managers and Authorized Representative will be able to perform Reconciliation Resets themselves on the Finalize Covered Retirees page with just a few clicks.

CMS’ RDS Center is excited to announce the publication of a new RDS Secure Website Login Quick Start Guide illustrating how to log into the RDS Secure Website, and documenting best practices for maintaining an active RDS user account.