Defense Reporting Obligations

Question
By receiving "supplemental" interrogatories from defense firms; is there an obligation to report to Medicare to satisfy insurance companies' obligations? You already answered that plaintiffs do not need not sign authorizations. Can you list what information plaintiffs are required to provide. I can understand name, date of birth, HIC# and whether enrolled in Medicare and receiving Medicare benefits. Do we have to give Social Security numbers? How about answering whole series of questions re Social Security Disability? Questions re end state renal disease and Lou Gehrig's disease? Thanks for your help!

New Jersey Attorney

Answer
Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. There is much confusion surrounding the requirements under Section 111.

The information that the defense is allowed to obtain to determine Medicare entitlement includes the following:

• First letter of first name
• First six characters of last name
• Gender
• Date of birth; and
• Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) OR the Social Security Number (Medicare prefers that the HICN be used, if available)

The above information is what the defense needs to query the Medicare system to determine whether the claimant is a Medicare beneficiary. The response that Medicare will provide to the defense will only include whether there was a match and the claimant is a beneficiary; or that there was no match. The defense will not receive information about when the claimant became entitled or why they are entitled. The defense is allowed to query the system as soon as they receive notice of a claim, but the trigger date for reporting is whether the claimant is a beneficiary on the date of the settlement.

There is additional information that the defense needs for the Section 111 reporting if there is a settlement with a Medicare beneficiary. This information does not need to be provided to the defense until there is a settlement. There is no reason why the defense needs information about a claimant’s disability or illness. This is protected information and is not required for Section 111 reporting. Click here to view the list of the data points that are needed for the query and also for the reporting.

Please let us know if you need anything further.

My best,
Marlene Wilson