BALTIMORE — CMS has clarified its policy on the provision of DMEPOS refills. Effective Aug. 2, the agency said, beneficiaries must be contacted "no sooner than 14 calendar days prior to the delivery/shipping date. For delivery of refills, the supplier must deliver the DMEPOS product no sooner than 10 calendar days prior to the end of usage for the current product."
In addition, for items and supplies that are provided on a recurring basis, "billing must be based on prospective, not retrospective use."
Read all about it in MLN Matters article MM7452.
Here's a comment on the new billing policy from NAIMES: "This means that conscientious suppliers who are actually saving Medicare money by supplying only what the patient needs or has used by billing at the end of the period must now bill prospectively and for the ordered quantity. Contact with the patient must be made for the next service period and prospective quantities adjusted as necessary."
