MAPD Help Desk

Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) Help Desk offers technical and functional support for the Medicare Advantage Health and Prescription Drug Coverage (Parts C and D) Programs.  This insurance coverage is provided by:

• Medicare Advantage (MA) Plans.
• Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) Plans.
• Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs)
• Third parties conducting data exchanges with CMS on behalf of MA/MAPD/PDPs.

Technical Support for Plan Connectivity and Access:

• Startup, testing and implementation for connectivity to CMS systems.
• Ongoing operational support for data exchanges and system problems.
• IDM - Identity Management for CMS system access and password reset inquires and issues.

MAPD Functional Support for Inquires and Issues:

• Coordination with CMS for beneficiary enrollment, disenrollment, payment and premium topics.
• MARx UI - Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug User Interface.
• eRPT - Electronic Retroactive Processing transmission.
• ELMO - Eligibility Enrollment Medicare Online.
• COB - Coordination of Benefits files.
• PRIS Plan Portal - Payment Recovery Information System Medicare Parts C & D Plan Portal.

For helpful information about the following topics, please click the link:

• Remote Identity Proofing (RIDP) (PDF)
• Common MARx UI Login Errors (PDF)

Bulletin Board of Current Plan Communications

• March 9, 2023 – MARx UI Availability for Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12, 2023

Due to system maintenance, please see below for the MARx UI availability schedule on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12, 2023:

• 6:00 AM - 8:00 PM ET Saturday, March 11:  Available in UPDATE mode; early cut-off due to system maintenance
• 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM ET Saturday, March 11:  Available in READ mode
• 11:30 PM ET Saturday, March 11 - 8:00 AM Sunday, March 12:  Not available

Additionally, Plan transaction processing will be stopped at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, March 11. Plans will receive the Daily Transaction Reply Report (DTRR) on Sunday, March 12, after 8:00 AM ET. 

     1. In UPDATE mode, users can read and make updates to MARx UI data if permitted by their assigned role.

     2. In READ mode, users cannot make changes to the MARx UI data but could read the data if permitted by their assigned

• February 28, 2023 – February 2023 Plan Communications User Guide v17.1 Now Available

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted a new version (17.1) of the Plan Communications User Guide (PCUG) to the MAPD Help Desk website.  Updates to the Guide reflect edits to Special Election Period (SEP) definition codes: 93 - PLAN LIST CORRECTION SEP, 96 - OTH EXC CIRC- MARKET MISREP, Y1 - Exceptional Circumstance and the addition of Y5 - Excep Circ-Market Misrep within Section 3: Eligibility and Enrollment, and updates to figure 8-3: (M101) Screen and Table: 8-2: Welcome (M101) Screen Field Descriptions within Section 8: MARx UI.  Please see the Change Log at the beginning of the Guide for a detailed list of the updates and reference the MAPD Plan Communications User Guide page for the new PCUG.

• February 16, 2023 – MARx UI Availability for Saturday, February 18 and Sunday, February 19, 2023

• 6:00 AM - 8:00 PM ET Saturday, February 18:  Available in UPDATE mode; early cut-off due to system maintenance
• 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM ET Saturday, February 18:  Available in READ mode
• 11:30 PM ET Saturday, February 18 - 8:00 AM Sunday, February 19:  Not available 

Additionally, Plan transaction processing will be stopped at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, February 18. Plans will receive the Daily Transaction Reply Report (DTRR) on Sunday, February 19, after 8:00 AM ET. 

• January 31, 2023 – January 2023 Plan Communications User Guide v17.0 Now Available

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted a new version (17.0) of the Plan Communications User Guide (PCUG) to the MAPD Help Desk website.  Updates to the Guide reflect the addition of Race and Ethnicity information within Section 3: Eligibility and Enrollment, and Section 8: MARx UI.  Please see the Change Log at the beginning of the Guide for a detailed list of the updates and reference the MAPD Plan Communications User Guide page for the new PCUG.

• September 1, 2022 – Year 2023 MARx Plan Monthly Calendar Now Available

The MARx Plan Monthly Calendar has been updated to reflect 2023 Plan data due dates, report release dates, enrollment certification due dates, and file transmissions. The 2023 MARx calendar is available for Plans to review via the MAPD/MARx Calendars and Schedules link.

At the end of each year, the MAPD Help Desk issues the MARx Monthly Calendar for the coming year.  The calendar is available in the Downloads section in both a color and plain text format and identifies the following dates:

o  CMS Holidays

o  MARx Monthly Reports Available

o  Plan Submission Cut-Off

o  Payment due to Plan

o  Annual Election Period Begin and End dates

o  Plan Submission Cut-Off

o  Payment due to Plan

o  MA Full-Dual Notification File (transmitted only to MA Organizations and Cost Plans)

o  Biweekly LIS Report

o  NoRx File

The MAPD Help Desk receives thousands of inquiries each month and in an effort to better assist our growing user community, we have consolidated information regarding issues we most commonly support.  Please refer to the Quick Reference Guide of MAPD Help Desk Common Issues in the download section below which provides users with easy access to common issues and solutions in a quick and easy format.

Topics covered include:

• Initial Setup
• Remote Identity Proofing (RIDP)
• Account Issues

• Important Notice: MAPD Help Desk Information Request Documents

Please use the MAPD Help Desk Information Request Form, and when applicable the Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) – Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) Template, and the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Template when requesting information from the MAPD Help Desk.  Use of the form and spreadsheets will help facilitate accurate and timely processing of your request.  Please note that if emailing the spreadsheets they are to be password protected to ensure they are following the CMS Security Policy for PHI/PII.

All documents are provided in the Downloads section in the ZIP file entitled MAPD Help Desk Information Request Documents.

Regularly Scheduled Maintenance

As a reminder, the MARx UI may be unavailable due to Regularly Scheduled Maintenance during the following timeframes:

Daily: 11:00 PM to 12:30 AM ET.

Weekly: Sunday evening at 6:00 PM to Monday morning at 6:00 AM ET.

Also, GENTRAN/TIBCO may be unavailable due to Weekly System Backup during the following timeframe:

Weekly: Sunday Morning at 1:00 AM to approximately 3:00 AM ET.

MARx UI Submission Cut Off Dates

Please reference the following table for the upcoming 2023 Plan Data Due dates for MARx transaction submissions.  Cutoff for the submission of MARx transaction files is 8:00 PM (Eastern Time) on the dates listed below:

Contacting the MAPD Help Desk

Phone: 1-800-927-8069
E-mail: mapdhelp@cms.hhs.gov
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM ET.