House Letter Asks CMS to Re-Evaluate PMD Final Rule

Washington

The chairwoman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs is asking CMS to re-evaluate its final rule on power mobility devices.

In a letter dated May 19, Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., wrote that the subcommittee is “greatly concerned” that CMS failed to “seriously evaluate the additional burden that the final rule imposes on suppliers of PMDs.”

Under the rule, which eliminates the power mobility CMN, providers need only submit a physician’s prescription for reimbursement of Medicare claims for power wheelchairs and scooters. They are, however, responsible for gathering patient records that document medical necessity for the equipment.

“The reality that [a supplier] now must collect both the prescription and additional documentation on all of its claims is not the same requirement of a one-page CMN collection,” Miller wrote. In addition, she said, CMS did not take into account the cost of maintaining the records.

Miller urged CMS to consider other collection methods that would decrease the administrative burdens for providers. She also included sample standardized forms, developed by suppliers, that she said include all of the information required by the final rule.