US · guidance
CMS Pub. 100-05, ch. 3, § 20.2.2
Documentation to Support the Admission Process
The provider retains a copy of completed admission questions, the CWF print out or copy
of the 271 responses including all notations, in its files (or online) for audit purposes to
demonstrate that development for primary payer coverage takes place. It is not necessary
that the beneficiary sign the completed questions. However, providers may identify the
date when the questions are asked. Medicare permits providers to retain hard copy
questions and responses on paper, optical image, microfilm, or microfiche. Hard copy
and data described in this paragraph must be kept for at least 10 years after the date of
service that appears on the claim. (See Pub. 100-05, Chapter 5 for information about the
documentation to be used in a review.) Medicare requires it to retain negative and
positive responses to admission questions for 10 years with DOJ's record retention requirements,
after the date of service. Online data cannot be purged before then.
History
(Rev. 11874, Issued: 02-23-23, Effective: 03-24-23; Implementation: 03-24-23)
Provenance
- Source
- cms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-25
- Edition
- iom-2026-08-25
- Content hash
8ce969b681c11dc2dd60024b10bd164b882b6c3696cff59ca17b4f02d2fb14c9
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