On November 23, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2016 Medicare DMEPOS fee schedule. As expected, Medicare fees for orthotic and prosthetic devices will be slightly lower in 2016 than they were in 2015. The annual update to the Medicare O&P fee schedule is based on a combination of the […]
It has been remarkably quiet on the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) front for the last 18 months or so. As a result of the original RAC contracts coming to an end and new RAC contract proposals being submitted and reviewed, the number of additional documentation requests (ADRs) has been reduced significantly. CMS advised its original […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the new HCPCS codes for 2016. There were no L-codes added or deleted for 2016. There were two minor verbiage changes for codes L1902 and L1904, which describe pre-fabricated and custom fabricated ankle gauntlet style devices respectively. Below is a breakdown of the code descriptor […]
The White House just announced that CMS “will not finalize” the July 16, 2015 Draft LCD. That may be clarified further when comparable announcement text from both CMS and from the DME MACs are released and can be analyzed. The White House report appears to confirm the information that AOPA shared at the recent San […]
AOPA Reacts Over 100,000 people took President Obama at his word when they shared their names, email addresses and trust in/commitment to government, signing on in 17 days to surpass the 100,000 signatures required to prompt direct White House intervention and action on the draft lower prosthetic LCD. Others were skeptical, seeing the We the […]
The 98th Annual AOPA National Assembly October 7-10 held in conjunction with the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Orthotics and Prosthetics drew 2,200 O&P professionals to San Antonio, Texas. Whether it was the magnet power of San Antonio, the programming, the convenient facilities or all of the above, the initial feedback has been […]
AOPA updated you on all the events on the LCD Policy Proposal – the comments we submitted and helped members and patients submit, the rally at HHS, the meetings we had with CMS, the open DME MAC meeting, the PR campaign, etc. But what has happened since the closing of the comments on August 31st? […]
Read AOPA President Charlie Dankmeyer, Jr., CPO’s Opinion Editorial on the LCD Draft in the Washington Times “Like my peers, I have spent my 40-plus-year career working to move persons with limb loss out of the shadows of society, away from the public notion that they are “disabled” …people wearing prostheses today are a health […]
AOPA submitted comments on the LCD Policy on Friday, August 28. Read the comments here. Researchers Referenced in CMS’ Bibliography in Support of LCD Submitted a Letter Objecting to their Use of their Work. Read their comments here. Today is the last day to submit comments on the policy. You can quickly submit a letter from www.AOPAvotes.org.
We started with a Tuesday press advisory which included AC and AOPA—Senator Bob Kerrey, Charles Dankmeyer, Adrianne Haslet, Drs. Paul Pasquina and Stephen Fisher, and Amputee Coalition President Dan Berschinski. It began the tide of press interest which carried over to the August 26th events. The DME MAC hearing attracted roughly 200 amputees, to hear […]
