Home Health & Hospice Week

If you wish some of Medicare’s more annoying and useless requirements would just go away, a new decision for DME suppliers may give you hope.

“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be discontinuing the use of Certificates of Medical Necessity (CMNs) and Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Information Forms (DIFs) for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2023,” CMS says in a release. The move is “part of its ongoing efforts to increase access to care and to reduce unnecessary administrative burden for stakeholders,” the agency says.

“Through stakeholder outreach, CMS received feedback that CMNs and DIFs are burdensome and duplicative of information already available on the claim or in the medical record,” the agency explains. “Additionally, CMS heard that submission of these forms is often particularly difficult for small or rural providers without administrative staff and technical support. In response to this feedback, CMS evaluated options for easing this process and determined it could end the use of these forms,” it adds.

“This change in process aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration’s priority of improving access to quality, affordable care and coverage by enabling quicker access to needed medical supplies for people with Medicare,” CMS notes. “It also enables frontline clinicians to focus on providing direct care and streamlines the coverage process for suppliers.”