The Garretson Firm Resolution Group offers comprehensive lien resolution services to the settlement community (plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys, courts as well as federal, state and private agencies) who must satisfy certain conditions in order to finalize settlements and get paid. As the first firm to specialize in this area, we've set the standard and created new, improved procedures for efficient and successful resolution.

In early December 2003, President Bush signed Public Law 108-173. PL 108-173, giving the government the right of reimbursement that it had been seeking in Thompson v. Goetzmann, 5th Circ. (12/17/02); Brown v. Thompson, 4th Circ (3/20/03) and U.S. v. Baxter, 11th (9/15/03).

Recently, President Bush signs into law the “Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007” (MMSEA) adding more penalties (for non compliance) to the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute.  Section 111 of the MMSEA requires the providers of liability insurance (including self-insurance), no fault insurance and workers’ compensation insurance (hereinafter “insurers”) to determine the Medicare-entitlement of all claimants and report certain information about those claims to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The penalty for non-compliance is strict - $1,000 per day for each day the insurer is out of compliance.

With this legislation, the parties can no longer rely on a process of reacting only after receiving notice of a potential claim from Medicare or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicare is not required to send notice; therefore, the obligation is on the claimants and lawyers. The exposure for the plaintiff attorney is as much as twice the amount owed to the agency. In addition, regulations mandate that Medicare's interest must be satisfied prior to distributing any settlement proceeds.

In order to avoid Medicare-related liability, claimant dissatisfaction and "cash flow" pitfalls, attorneys must now:

1. Determine if claimants are/were recipients of a government assistance program
2. Determine if these programs have liens against the settlement
3. Compromise, settle or execute a release of the program's claim

The Garretson Firm Resolution Group is dedicated to Medicare resolution. By working with numerous mass tort and personal injury firms that in aggregate provide a consistent pipeline of cases, The Resolution Group is able to navigate the Medicare Secondary Payer system and leverage significant efficiencies.

When the above-mentioned expertise is utilized, the results include:

• Faster case closure
• Elimination of post-settlement liability related to Medicare
• Increased claimant satisfaction

In cases where a Medicare Set Aside is needed in addition to resolving Medicare conditional interest (date of injury through date of settlement) , The Resolution Group's dedicated MSA staff will assist.