It was reported last week that the PECOS upgrade which was supposed to have been released in 2023, has been consigned to the scrap heap by DOGE.
It was Medicare Provider Enrollment’s version of the next George RR Martin Game of Thrones book: hurry up and wait, it’s coming, we’re getting excited…! Nope, it’s been delayed…sigh…it’s still in process…it’s coming! Yeah, right…and repeat!
Apparently the news platform CMS uses these days is X, and this was posted on March 6, 2024:
Whatever you think of DOGE (and I’m NOT going there…!) $200 million, 14 missed deadlines, and 9 years does sound like a lot, however you slice it.
But…do we just send all that investment to the scrap heap? Is starting all over the answer? Check out this video from February 22, 2023:
If you’ve been on PECOS recently, you know it DOESN’T -at all!- look like what’s on that video!
New features that PECOS 2.0 was promising:
- More tailoring to your application type
- Able to manage group practices more effectively
- Pre-populated information
- Automated revalidation reminders and guided revalidation enrollments
- Enrollment scrubbing (like claims scrubbing, it would look at your enrollment to ensure correctness prior to submission).
- Ability to enroll in multiple states with one application
- Update information across multiple enrollments (for example, no more repetitive 855B if all the info in that matches what’s in your 855I)
- Track the status of your enrollment submission in real-time
DOGE apparently hasn’t gotten around to taking the PECOS 2.0 notification off the CMS website. As of today, March 18, 2025, Introducing PECOS 2.0 is still a live site.
I can’t say what will happen. But if you’ve been waiting for PECOS 2.0 to enroll in Medicare, you’re going to be waiting longer. Potentially MUCH longer.
Paper’s looking really good, right about now!
