Members of Congress are circulating and signing a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking a reversal of the face-to-face documentation requirements under its durable medical equipment (DME) reimbursement program.
Originally scheduled to take effect on July 1, CMS delayed the rule’s implementation in June with a new effective date of October 1.
The “Dear Colleague,” letter was sent by Representatives Tom Reed (R-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Robert Andrews (D-NJ), and urgest others to sign.
“We have been hearing from home health providers and agencies from across the country that believe the Physician Face-to-Face (F2F) requirements currently being implemented by CMS as part of the Affordable Care Act are overly complicated and overlap with documentation requirements that are already in place,” the Congress members write on behalf of the home health community.
“Across the country, home health providers are reporting that the net effect of the current regulatory scheme has been to increase the paperwork burden and cost to home health agencies that are struggling to comply with this regulation; possibly even adding a disincentive for physicians to recommend home health services,” the letter states.
View a copy of the letter via the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
