Home Health & Hospice Week

Suppliers, disability advocates vow to continue push for change.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has refined its hotly contested new Medicare fee schedule for power mobility devices--again.

News of the latest changes--the second round of refinements since the fee schedule was released Oct. 2, was released by the agency late on Dec. 12, Eric Sokol of the Power Mobility Coalition tells Eli.

At press time, CMS had not yet posted the new amounts, but a key change was a "significant" bump up in the pricing for the heavy duty version of the standard power wheelchair.

The PMD fee schedule went into effect Nov. 15. The latest changes came amid continued pressure from manufacturers, suppliers and disability advocates.

Simple mathematical errors are among the problems still plaguing a new schedule of what Medicare will pay for power mobility devices.

The American Association for Homecare highlighted the issue in a roster of concerns about the new fee schedule sent to CMS Nov. 20.

There were many discrepancies in the methodology, as well as omissions in data, agrees Sokol.

Background: The agency adjusted some pricing for devices in Group 3 early in November, but did little to address concerns about prices for devices in Group 2, which includes the majority of PMDs. The latest refinements adjust some of the Group 2 rates. v

Note: Look for the new fee schedule and future updates at  www.1.cms.hhs.gov/DMEPOSFeeSched/01a_Power_Mobility_Devices.asp.