How to Track Medicare Administrative Contractor Updates

To track Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) updates, first identify the contractor for your state and the program or claim line you handle. Use the CMS MAC Websites, Secure Internet Portals, & Electronic Mailing Lists directory to open the relevant contractor website and subscribe to its provider mailing list. Then add CMS’s weekly MLN Connects newsletter and use MLN Matters articles, transmittals, and local MAC notices to verify changes before acting.

A/B, DME, and Home Health & Hospice assignments are not interchangeable. Keep the local MAC feed and national CMS sources together, and recheck CMS’s current contractor information when an award or transition is announced.

1. Identify the MAC for your state and work

Start with the CMS state directory, which separates contractor websites, secure internet portals, and electronic mailing lists by state and line of business. Choose the route that matches the claims or program work you perform:

Part A and Part B: A/B MACs process claims for geographic jurisdictions.
DMEPOS: DME MACs handle claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies.
Home Health and Hospice: Four A/B MACs also process these claims, but the HH+H areas do not match the four A/B jurisdiction maps. Check the separate HH+H listing rather than assuming your A/B contractor is the right contact.

The directory includes contractor organizations such as CGS, First Coast, National Government Services, Noridian, Novitas, Palmetto GBA, and WPS. It also lists specialty contractors, including CEDI and National Provider Enrollment contractors. Those have specific functions; do not mistake them for the claims MAC responsible for your line of work.

Practical check: List every state and program line for which your organization bills. A multi-state practice, supplier, or organization working across Part A, Part B, DME, or HH+H may need more than one contractor feed.

Open the CMS directory and select your state and relevant program line.
Follow the link to that MAC’s provider education website.
Find its electronic mailing list or subscription page and subscribe using an address the billing or compliance team maintains.
Select each applicable program line if the MAC offers separate lists.
Bookmark the provider education page and its FAQ, claims alerts, and bulletin areas.
Keep the subscription address current, and use the provider site to change or end a subscription when staff or responsibilities change.

CMS’s communications manual says providers must be able to subscribe to or unsubscribe from MAC electronic mailing lists through the MAC provider education website. It also describes electronic bulletins and newsletters as a way to distribute information and update it efficiently when Medicare policy changes. Do not assume a list covers every program your organization handles; confirm the list’s stated scope.

3. Add CMS’s national update layer

Subscribe to MLN Connects, CMS’s weekly newsletter for national Fee-for-Service news for providers, suppliers, billers, and coders. Its archive provides dated editions, which makes it useful both for current monitoring and for checking when an item appeared.

Use the MAC feed for jurisdiction-specific operational information and MLN Connects for national developments. These sources complement one another: CMS’s communications manual says MACs that transmit MLN Connects content supplement it with localized information. Neither should be treated as a substitute for checking the other when a change could affect your claims workflow.

4. Verify important changes in CMS source material

A newsletter headline or bulletin is a useful alert, but consequential changes should be traced to the underlying instruction and implementation guidance.

Open the relevant item in MLN Matters. CMS says these articles cover coverage, billing, payment changes, updates, and actions relevant to provider types.
Note the affected provider types, claims or services, required action, and any effective date described in the article.
Follow the article’s references to the underlying CMS instruction or change request.
Use the CMS transmittals search, linked from the MLN Matters page, to search or sort by year and keyword.
Check the applicable MAC’s implementation notice or FAQ for local operational instructions, such as timing or claims-processing details.

Record the publication date and effective date separately. A notice’s publication date does not by itself tell you when a workflow must change. When dates, scope, or instructions appear inconsistent, review the current underlying CMS instruction and ask the relevant MAC about the specific Medicare program or claim question.

5. Monitor local claims issues and operational notices

Check the MAC provider education website for bulletins, FAQs, and claims-processing alerts. CMS’s communications manual calls for MACs to maintain current local FAQs and a dedicated page for confirmed system-related claims-processing issues, including an archive of resolved issues.

When investigating a rejected or delayed claim, check the alert’s date and status before changing a process. A resolved issue may explain a past problem but not a current one. Keep a short internal record of the MAC notice, affected line of business, date checked, and any action your team took.

6. Recheck contractor assignments during transitions

Contract awards and implementation notices can make saved contractor references stale. Recheck CMS’s current directory and relevant jurisdiction page when CMS announces an award or transition; follow current implementation notices for the timing of any operational change.

For example, CMS reported on June 24, 2026 that Novitas Solutions received the A/B MAC Jurisdiction H award, covering Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. CMS listed implementation as in progress on its Jurisdiction H page. That announcement is a reason to check the live CMS information and implementation guidance; an award does not by itself establish that every provider’s day-to-day contact changed immediately.

Prefer the current CMS directory and linked jurisdiction pages over saved maps or old reference documents. Contractor assignments and implementation details can change.

7. Make monitoring repeatable

Use this lightweight routine to keep notices from getting lost in individual inboxes:

Set up: Record each state, program line, MAC website, subscription address, and provider education page.
Route: Send MAC messages and MLN Connects to a shared mailbox or monitored team distribution list where your organization’s email setup permits.
Review: Assign someone to review new notices and flag items that affect billing, coding, claims submission, or staff procedures.
Verify: For changes with operational or compliance impact, capture the source, affected scope, publication date, effective date, and the relevant CMS instruction or MAC implementation guidance.
Revalidate: Recheck contractor assignments when CMS posts awards, transitions, or implementation updates, and periodically confirm that subscriptions and saved links still match your work.

This is a monitoring practice, not a guarantee that every message will arrive or that an alert list covers every detail of an individual provider’s workflow. Maintain more than one official route and verify consequential requirements in current source material.

Quick reference: which source answers which question?

Source	Scope	Best use	Next step
CMS MAC directory	Contractor and program routing	Finding the current MAC website, portal, and mailing list	Select state and provider line
MAC provider education site and email list	Local jurisdiction and program	Bulletins, FAQs, claims issues, and local instructions	Subscribe and check notice dates/status
MLN Connects	National Fee-for-Service	Weekly national program and education news	Subscribe and use the dated archive
MLN Matters and transmittals	National instructions and change requests	Investigating coverage, billing, payment, and required actions	Follow the underlying instruction and effective date
CMS “What’s New” and jurisdiction pages	Portfolio-wide contractor context	Tracking awards and transitions	Recheck implementation guidance

Common problems and fixes

Problem	Likely cause	What to do
The contractor site or list seems wrong for your state	You selected a different claim line, or relied on an old saved assignment.	Return to the current CMS directory and choose the state and program line separately.
You receive Part A/B messages but miss DME or HH+H information	A different MAC or separate mailing list handles that work.	Check each line in the directory and subscribe to every applicable list.
A CMS newsletter mentions a change but does not explain your local process	The newsletter is a national summary.	Follow the CMS instruction and check the relevant MAC implementation notice or FAQ.
A claims issue appears to contradict an old alert	The notice may have been superseded or the alert may be in a resolved archive.	Check the current alert status and date, then confirm with current CMS and MAC guidance.
A contractor award is announced, but contact details are unclear	Implementation may still be in progress.	Use current CMS transition and jurisdiction pages; do not infer an immediate operational handoff from the award alone.
A subscription stops reaching the team	The address may have changed, the list may not cover that program, or delivery may be affected by local email rules.	Review the MAC subscription page, confirm the subscribed address and scope, and ask the organization’s email administrator to check delivery controls.
You are unsure who can answer a question	MAC operational questions and questions about MLN publications use different contact routes.	Contact the relevant MAC for a specific Medicare program question; use CMS’s MLN contact route for questions about MLN publications, calls, webcasts, or the newsletter.

Or skip the browser setup

If you are documenting an update workflow and need a clean capture of a public CMS notice or MAC page, ScreenshotNeo can return a screenshot or PDF with one API request. See the API documentation.

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/medicare-administrative-contractors/mac-websites-secure-internet-portals-electronic-mailing-lists -o shot.webp

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
    params={
        "access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "url": "https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/medicare-administrative-contractors/mac-websites-secure-internet-portals-electronic-mailing-lists",
    },
    timeout=90,
)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

const q = new URLSearchParams({
  access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  url: 'https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/medicare-administrative-contractors/mac-websites-secure-internet-portals-electronic-mailing-lists',
});
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Screenshot request failed: ${res.status}`);
const fs = await import('node:fs/promises');
await fs.writeFile('shot.webp', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()));

ScreenshotNeo accepts cookie and consent banners like a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, failed loads, timeouts, and cache hits cost nothing, and response headers identify the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server lets AI agents use the take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots. Sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month, with no card.

Frequently asked questions

Should I rely on the MAC email list alone?

No. Keep the relevant local MAC list alongside MLN Connects and verify consequential changes against the underlying CMS instruction and current MAC guidance.

Does the same MAC handle every Medicare claim type in a state?

No. A/B, DME, and Home Health & Hospice assignments can differ. Use the CMS directory for each program line you handle.

Who should I contact about a specific billing or program question?

CMS directs providers with a specific Medicare program question to their MAC. Questions about MLN publications, calls, webcasts, or the newsletter have separate MLN contact routes.