Members of Congress are pressuring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to accelerate implementation of a law aimed at speeding claims settlements that require CMS approval.

Letters to CMS, sent by 11 members of the House and eight members of the Senate at the request of the Medicare Advocacy Recovery Coalition (MARC), deal with implementation of the SMART Act, or the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act, which seeks to reduce the time required to close insurance claims in cases where Medicaid or Medicare funds may have been used to provide care pending settlement of auto or workers' compensation claims. 

The SMART Act aims to correct problems associated a 2007 law, the Medicare Secondary Payment Act (MSP), that strengthened CMS' ability to require people under Medicare or Medicaid who used that insurance to pay medical bills, but were later reimbursed by other payers.

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