02/01/2012

Medicare HETS UI Internet Eligibility Submitters:

Effective today, the operational hours for the MCARE Help Desk have changed.

Previously the Help Desk was open from 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET Monday - Friday (with the exception of selected holidays). Effective today (February 1, 2012) the Help Desk will now be open from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM ET Monday - Friday (again with the exception of selected holidays).

HETS submitters who contact the Help Desk outside of business hours have an opportunity to leave a voicemail for urgent issues. Messages are monitored 24 hours a day - depending on the severity of the issue, calls may be returned the next business day.

Please note that within the actually HETS UI Internet Eligibility application, the Help Desk operational hours listed on the 'Help Desk Support' page continue to reflect the 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET hours. CMS is working to update this note but estimates that it may be Q3 2012 before this is corrected.

CMS announces that it will perform maintenance on the HETS UI Internet Eligibility system February 3-4, 2012. The maintenance window will begin at 9:00 PM ET on Friday, February 3, 2012. The HETS UI Internet Eligibility application will be unavailable during this period. Attempts to open a HETS UI Internet Eligibility session will result in errors. CMS estimates that the maintenance will be complete by 4:00 AM ET on Saturday, February 4, 2012.

Please contact the Help Desk if you have questions or comments.

Medicare Customer Assistance Re: Eligibility (MCARE) Help Desk
1-866-440-3805