On June 15, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Division of Medicare Secondary Payer Program Operations (DMPO) issued an alert and request for feedback relative to future webinar topics associated with the Coordination of Benefits & Recovery (COB&R) program.
The notice indicates that, “[CMS] is specifically soliciting feedback on webinar topics of interest from the COB&R stakeholder community (Group Health Plan and Non-Group Health Plan insurers, attorneys, beneficiaries, and more) to better align future webinar and other outreach topics with stakeholder needs and interests.”
The COB&R program generally is associated with “Coordination of Benefits” (COB) – e.g., rules and procedures around who pays first; and “Recovery,” which is related to Medicare seeking reimbursement for payments that should have been made by a primary payer, i.e., Medicare conditional payment recovery with the Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center (BCRC) or Commercial Repayment Center (CRC). Of note, Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Asides (WCMSA) and Sec. 111 Mandatory Insurer Reporting were not mentioned as topics.
This presents an opportunity for stakeholders in the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) community to provide input on topics that may be valuable to beneficiaries, attorneys, insurance carriers, self-insured entities, third-party administrators, and other related stakeholders. We commend CMS for its continued outreach and engagement.
CMS requests that feedback be submitted by July 1, 2026. Submissions should be emailed to COBR@cms.hhs.gov.
As a leader in the professional administration of Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs), Ametros plans to provide recommendations focused on post-settlement coordination of benefits. We will also continue to share educational updates with the stakeholder community on important developments affecting insurance carriers, self-insured entities, beneficiaries, attorneys, and future Medicare webinar initiatives.
