Home Health & Hospice Week

Feds redefine some items.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may have more technical errors to weed out when it comes to the agency's new fee schedule for power mobility devices.

That's the conclusion of some suppliers in reviewing the second round of refinements to the new fee schedule. CMS issued the latest changes Dec. 12.

Payment for almost all power mobility device codes was increased, reports the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. The biggest increase in payment came in the Group 2 heavy-duty power wheelchair rate for persons weighing up to 600 pounds. That payment rate rose by $1,147.

Boost your payments: Suppliers should resubmit claims for any devices that are affected by the round-two revisions, says CMS.

The new fee schedule amounts, originally issued Oct. 2, are effective for claims with dates of service on or after Nov. 15, 2006.

In addition, CMS recently published a list of HCPCS code assignments for individual power-operated vehicles and power wheelchairs on its Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (SADMERC) Web site. The list includes all HCPCS codes for power mobility devices that were submitted to the SADMERC by Nov. 15, 2006.

Also available on the SADMERC Web site are revisions to the definitions of multiple power options power wheelchairs (K0841-K0843, K0861-K0864, K0884-K0886, and K0891) that went into effect Nov. 15.

Note this change: The current definitions say that the codes include an "expandable controller." The revised definitions specify that a "non-expandable controller is standard but can be upgraded to an expandable controller."

Don't overlook: A new code, E2377, has been established for claims with dates of service on or after Jan. 1, 2007.

Other details about recent Medicare changes to payment for power mobility devices are at the SADMERC Web site at www.palmettogba.com/palmetto.