The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued transmittal updating the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS) fee schedule by 2.4 percent on January 1, 2012. The DMEPOS fee schedules are updated on an annual basis in accordance with statute and regulations. This annual update in payment rates is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) with an adjustment for productivity. For 2012, the CPI-U adjustment is 3.6 percent increase, but the productivity adjustment for 2012 reduced that by 1.2 percent. Hence, the overall effect is a 2.4 percent increase.
Notably, this update does not include items under competitive bidding contracts in Round 1 Rebid areas. The competitive bidding items are prohibited from receiving an update and will remain at single payment amounts for 2012.
The transmittal also includes information such as: an update to labor payment rates, the payment amounts for stationary oxygen equipment, the payment amount for maintenance and servicing of oxygen equipment, HCPCS codes that have been added or deleted from the fee schedule, and updates to certain modifiers.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the foregoing or would like additional information, please contact your regular Hall Render attorney, or Todd Selby at tselby@hallrender.com or 317.977.1440, or Kendra Conover at kconover@hallrender.com or 317.977.1456.
