It may seem a little crazy, but YES, in 2022 Medicare still expects new business owners to have paper business checks.
If you are submitting your Medicare provider enrollment via PECOS you are asked to either upload a copy of a voided business check or a letter from your business bank on bank letterhead with a real person’s signature.
How to Buy Physical Therapy Business Checks
When you open a physical therapy business bank account you will get a starter check booklet. These checks will not have your business’s name and address. They will only have your bank account number and routing number.
These are not acceptable for your PECOS application.
A starter check might look something like what you see below. This will get rejected if you handwrite your business name and address at the top left.
Buy From Your Bank
You can order real checks and a book to hold your checks from your bank when you open the account. It is not the cheapest route, but it is the most convenient route.
NOTICE: Be sure your business bank account name exactly matches your IRS CP 575 letter business name. The CP 575 is the letter you got from the IRS with your business name and tax identification number.
Buy On Amazon
If you didn’t buy from your bank or if your name doesn’t exactly match your CP 575 you might consider just buying a small batch of checks from an Amazon supplier. When you do this you can enter your business name information to exactly match your CP 575 letter.
Often therapists may have a business name of “ABC Physical Therapy and Wellness” on the CP 575 letter, but the business bank account business name is ABC Physical Therapy & Wellness LLC”.
This difference will cause the PECOS application to pause or reject until it is corrected.
I have used this link: General Manual Business Checks to purchase checks as recently as early 2022.
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