Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS raises payment rates slightly for labor HCPCS codes. Significant political support wasn't enough to stave off a change in Medicare's payment meth-odology for oxygen equipment. The new payment structure reimburses suppliers for 36 months of oxygen equipment use, but makes them responsible for another two years' worth of service with virtually no payment (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVII, No. 41, p. 325). Ninety-eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services urging a delay of the oxygen rule, reports the American Association for Homecare. The letter sent to CMS detailed the problems with the new policy, including no reimbursement for emergency services and inadequate reimbursement for routine maintenance. In another letter, seven Republican U.S. senators also urged CMS head Kerry Weems to delay the rule, according to the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers. "Home oxygen providers are [...]