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Accessing Your RDS Secure Website User Account Tech Article Updates

Maintaining access to your RDS Secure Website user account is critical to ensuring your Plan Sponsor meets its Application and Reconciliation Deadlines and experiences all the benefits of participating in RDS.

Announcements

CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind the Plan Sponsor community that, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. 423.888, there are multiple scenarios during the Payment Validation process that can delay or stop a payment request from being processed.

CMS’ RDS Center would like to remind the Plan Sponsor community that, pursuant to §423.888, there are multiple scenarios during the Payment Validation process that can delay or stop a payment request from being processed.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) Program has changed our policy regarding RDS Secure Website user account password resets. To give users more flexibility to manage user accounts and avoid inconvenience caused by locked user accounts, CMS’ RDS Center has increased the number of password resets allowed each day.

Beginning with costs incurred in January 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) Program will implement an update to the program’s sequestration policy, whereby the mandatory payment reduction will be applied at each interim payment request and the Reconciliation final payment request.

Beginning with costs incurred in January 2024, CMS’ RDS Center will implement an update to the sequestration policy, whereby the mandatory two percent (2%) payment reduction will be applied at each interim payment request rather than applying the reduction only to the final payment.

The CMS’ RDS Center would like to announce a new text (SMS) message feature has been added to improve the RDS Secure Website login process.

RDS Spotlight

Changes have been made to the email accounts used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS’) Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) Program. Effective immediately, Plan Sponsors can only use the RDS@cms.hhs.gov email address to communicate with the RDS Program. 

Do you know where to go when you have questions about RDS Reconciliation? The answers to your questions are available 24-7 on the RDS Public Website.

As a requirement of Reconciliation, Plan Sponsors must finalize their application's Covered Retiree List (CRL) and submit final cost data to CMS' RDS Center. Please review the following guidance and resources for successfully reporting final costs during Reconciliation.

As a requirement of Reconciliation, Plan Sponsors must finalize their application's Covered Retiree List (CRL) and submit final cost data to CMS' RDS Center. Please review the following guidance and resources for successfully finalizing your application’s retiree count during Reconciliation. 

In preparation for the final Reconciliation payment request, the Plan Sponsor agrees to the CRL in the Reconciliation: Finalize Covered Retirees step by completing the following tasks: 

To avoid missed Reconciliation Deadlines and delayed subsidy payments, ensure that your RDS user accounts and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) are active and that you are able to access the RDS Secure Website today! Please encourage all users assigned to your RDS application(s) to log in to the Secure Website as soon as possible, and well in advance of your deadline date.

Review the summary of Reconciliation steps and the user roles responsible for completing each step. Know your responsibilities during Reconciliation, coordinate with other Plan Sponsor users and vendors (if applicable), and protect your Plan Sponsor’s subsidy!