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Filing for Bankruptcy Instructions

Guidance for Medicare financial obligations during bankruptcy.

Issued by: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Issue Date: February 11, 2020

If you have filed a bankruptcy petition or are involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, notify your servicing Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) immediately so that we can properly resolve Medicare financial obligations. Even if there are no outstanding payments at the time of the bankruptcy filing, this notification ensures that we handle your situation properly.

Notify your servicing MAC by providing:

  • Name the bankruptcy is filed under
  • District where the bankruptcy was filed
  • Docket number
  • National Provider Identifier (NPI)

Find your MAC Interactive Map.

You must also serve CMS and the DOJ with notice of bankruptcy under the applicable federal laws, rules and regulations.

Service upon federal governmental when you file for bankruptcy

Generally speaking, in order to complete service, a debtor must provide notice to “the United States attorney for the district in which the case is pending and to the department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States through which the debtor became indebted.”  F.R.B.P. 2002(j). 

Find your U.S. Attorney Interactive Map.

All adversary proceedings which involve the United States government or any of its federal agencies must be served upon the Attorney General at the following address, along with the appropriate government agency and a copy upon the U.S. Attorney:

Attorney General of the United States

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20503-0001

Service upon HHS must be made by mail on the Department of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, or other employees of the Department in their official capacities should be sent to the following address pursuant to 45 C.F.R. § 4.1.:

General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, S.W. 

Washington, DC 20201

The instructions on how to complete service upon a governmental agency are contained at Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(i), F.R.B.P. 1007(d), 2002(f)-(g), (j), 7004(b)(4)-(5); 11 U.S.C. § 342(g); 45 C.F.R. Part 4.

External Links to Bankruptcy information:

U.S. Courts: https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy

Federal Bankruptcy Courts: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/bankruptcy-courts 

Department of Justice: https://www.justice.gov/jm/civil-resource-manual-48-bankruptcy-players-outline

 

HHS is committed to making its websites and documents accessible to the widest possible audience, including individuals with disabilities. We are in the process of retroactively making some documents accessible. If you need assistance accessing an accessible version of this document, please reach out to the guidance@hhs.gov.

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this database lack the force and effect of law, except as authorized by law (including Medicare Advantage Rate Announcements and Advance Notices) or as specifically incorporated into a contract. The Department may not cite, use, or rely on any guidance that is not posted on the guidance repository, except to establish historical facts.