Medicare Data Match Document Retention Requirements

[Guest eebenefitsatty]

My ultimate question is: how long does an employer/self-funded group health plan have to retain documents for the CMS Medicare Data Match Program (to determine Medicare Secondary Payer status)?

I found numerous articles online saying that CMS requires a 5 year - and recommends a 10 year - document retention period. The only agency/legal resource I found that discusses the requirement appears to apply to insurers, not employers/self-funded group health plan sponsors (at the link below).

http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coordination-o...ement082808.pdf

Can anyone direct me to a agency/legal resource discussing Medicare's Data Match Program document retention requirements as applied to an employer/self-funded group health plan sponsor?