Medicare contractor · Jurisdictions 6 and K
NGS Dermatology Billing (Jurisdictions 6 and K)
National Government Services is the Medicare Administrative Contractor for Jurisdiction 6 (Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and Jurisdiction K (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont). It publishes the local coverage determinations that govern Part B dermatology claims across both regions.
National Government Services is one of the contractors covered in our Medicare dermatology billing guide, which explains how local coverage determinations, advance beneficiary notices and global periods reach the claim before any contractor-specific rule applies.
Teaching physicians, referrals and the northeast mix
The NGS footprint holds a high concentration of academic-affiliated dermatology. Resident-involved encounters require an attending attestation that meets the teaching physician rules, and a claim released without it is indefensible on review regardless of the clinical quality of the note.
In the Jurisdiction K states, Medicare sits beside no-fault, workers' compensation and union plans with short filing clocks, so Medicare-primary determination at intake matters as much as the coverage policy itself.
What National Government Services decides for your dermatology claims
National Government Services does not write Medicare's benefit categories, but it writes the local coverage determinations, the billing and coding articles and the medical review edits that decide whether an individual dermatology claim is paid. Coverage language for benign lesion removal, actinic keratosis destruction, Mohs micrographic surgery and photodynamic therapy is contractor-level policy, and the version that matters is the one active on the date of service.
The billing and coding article attached to each policy usually carries the diagnosis code list and the documentation wording a reviewer applies. Practices that read only the policy and never the article are the ones surprised by a denial that cites a code they thought was covered.
How we work these claims
- Policy set is loaded per location so a group crossing a jurisdiction line bills each site under the contractor that actually governs it.
- Pre-bill scrub checks lesion counts, destruction units, excision measurements and Mohs stage sequences against the note before release.
- Liability modifiers are paired with a signed advance beneficiary notice obtained before the service, never reconstructed afterwards.
- Denials are grouped by policy citation rather than by CPT, so the corrective action lands on the documentation template that caused them.
- Redetermination deadlines are tracked per claim, with reconsideration and ALJ escalation where the contractor's reading of its own policy is wrong.
Appeals inside the Medicare levels
Medicare appeals run in fixed levels: redetermination by the contractor, reconsideration by a qualified independent contractor, then an administrative law judge hearing. Each level has its own filing window, and a claim that misses one cannot re-enter at the next.
Most dermatology redeterminations succeed or fail on one thing — whether the operative or progress note states the clinical fact the policy asks for. We attach the note excerpt and the policy language side by side rather than sending a form letter.
States in Jurisdictions 6 and K
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
Markets National Government Services governs
These are the metro billing guides inside this jurisdiction. Each one sets out the local payer mix that sits on top of National Government Services policy.
Frequently asked questions
Do we have to follow National Government Services policy if our practice is somewhere else?
Jurisdiction follows the location where the service was rendered, not where the practice is headquartered. A group with sites in more than one jurisdiction is subject to both rulebooks.
Our claim was paid last year and the same claim denied this year. What changed?
Local coverage determinations and their billing and coding articles are revised on the contractor's own schedule. Check the policy version effective on the date of service before appealing.
Is a National Government Services denial appealable?
Yes, through the standard Medicare appeal levels, provided the redetermination is filed within the window. Denials caused by documentation that never stated the covered indication are better fixed at the template than at appeal.
Other Medicare contractors
Working with National Government Services
We bill dermatology only, inside your practice management system, with the National Government Services policy set loaded per location. If your Medicare denials keep citing the same policy, send us a remittance sample and we will tell you which documentation line is producing them.