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The CMS Online Manual System

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Program instructions are day-to-day operating instructions, policies, and procedures based on statutes and regulations, guidelines, models, and directives.  They are used by CMS program components, contractors, and State survey agencies to administer CMS programs.  For many others, they are a good source of technical and professional information about the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

CMS manuals are currently undergoing a transformation.  As we update the manual instructions, we move the updated material into the new Internet-only manuals and eliminate the corresponding material from the outgoing old paper-based manuals.  We will continue this phase-out/phase-in process until all manual instructions are included in the Internet-only manuals.  In the meantime, you should check both sets of manuals for current policy and procedures.

Providers are encouraged to visit an ancillary site, The CMS Provider Update, for a more customized presentation of transmittals, as well as information on regulations.

For an opportunity to purchase our Paper-Based Manuals, please visit our Availability of Medicare & Medicaid Manuals page.

THE INTERNET-ONLY MANUALS (IOMs)


The above link will take you to the index of the IOMs.  Instructions identified in the IOMs replace the instructions in the paper-based manuals.  NOTE: The CMS electronic record copies of these manuals are maintained in CMS Central Office and are the official copies if discrepancies occur.


Future Internet-Only Manual Updates


The above link will take you to the index of the Future Internet-Only Manual Updates.  The links below will direct you to future updates to the manuals based on the effective/implementation dates on a quarterly basis.  These quarterly updates will be reflected in the manuals on the effective/implementation dates of the releases.

January-March 2004 Updates
April-June 2004 Updates
July-September 2004 Updates
October-December 2004 Updates
January-March 2005 Updates

Program Transmittals

Transmittals transmit revisions for a specific manual.  They can be viewed as a source of "What's New" for that manual.  The sites listed below include transmittals that have been released from 2000 to the present.

2004 Transmittals
2003 Transmittals
2002 Transmittals
2001 Transmittals
2000 Transmittals

Crosswalks

The links below will take you to a table of contents in the paper-based manuals to crosswalk from where the information was housed in the paper-based manuals to where the information is currently being housed in the IOMs.

  Medicare Carriers Manual (MCM) Crosswalk
Medicare Intermediary Manual (MIM) Crosswalk
Provider Manuals Crosswalk

Paper-Based Manuals

"Paper-based manuals" is our term for CMS manuals that were officially released in hardcopy format.  The link above will direct you to a menu for the electronic versions of these print-based manuals.  We have moved many of these manual instructions into the new IOMs and retired the corresponding instructions in the paper-based manuals.  CMS will continue this phase-out/phase-in process until all manual instructions are included in the IOMs.  In the meantime, you should check both sets of manuals for current policy and procedures.  Also, the crosswalks above for the MIM, MCM, and provider manuals will help you to locate instructions that have moved to the IOMs.


Program Memoranda

Effective October 1, 2003, we no longer issue program memoranda (PMs) to transmit new policies and procedures.  However, the links below will direct you to the historical documents.  Current PMs that impacted the manuals were converted to the new IOMs.

2003 Program Memos
2002 Program Memos
2001 Program Memos
2000 Program Memos


View the latest actions taken by CMS to implement
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003

Go to the CMS Home Page

Last Modified on Thursday, September 16, 2004