CMS Pub. 100-04, ch. 33, § 10.5

Notice of the penalty waiver policy shall be included in every notice of the intent to

impose a penalty. Such notice must include a statement instructing the provider or

supplier how to perfect a penalty waiver request, including the deadline for doing so

(which should be congruent with the process for imposing the penalty at issue). In

addition, such notice must include either a full statement of the conditions that must be

met for a penalty waiver to be granted or the URL of a Web page where the policies of

this section may be reviewed.

In the case of a penalty imposed before the implementation date of this policy, an

affected provider or supplier will be afforded the opportunity to request a penalty waiver

up to 120 days after such implementation date. As such, an affected provider or supplier

has until May 19, 2006, to file a request for a penalty waiver to the appropriate Medicare

contractor. Specific notice to an affected provider or supplier of the policies of this

section and the extended deadline for filing a waiver request is not required unless the

Medicare contractor is actively communicating with such provider or supplier concerning

a penalty imposed before the implementation date of this section.