Home Health & Hospice Week

Physician number edits threaten DME claims. Suppliers have a few more months to get up to speed on physician number edits that will hit in April, but that won't help if ordering physicians don't bother to register in PECOS. Starting April 5, the Medicare claims system will begin editing the referring/ordering physician field on Part B claims to make sure physicians are enrolled with their National Provider Identifier (NPI) number in the Medicare Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership System (PECOS). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services originally set the edits to begin Jan. 4, but pushed back the date. The problem: Suppliers can't dictate whether ordering physicians enroll in PECOS, but their claims will be rejected if the physicians don't. "Absent any change, suppliers will see huge disruption in cash flow unless their physicians are registered," the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers warns. "I don't have control [...]