03/25/2020

Policy Recommendations for Commercial Payers Finalized with More Than 150 Supporting Companies and Stakeholders

More than 150 HME companies and stakeholders, including OAMES, have signed on to a joint industry letter that will be sent to major commercial payers with policy recommendations to help HME suppliers better serve patients and ease burdens on hospitals during the COVID-19 emergency.  The 18 recommendations include:

• Maintaining a normal schedule for claims adjudication and processing.
• Providing coverage for short term oxygen for beneficiaries with acute conditions to ease hospital overflow issues.  
• Allowing for coverage and reimbursement of equipment, supplies, and services provided to patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. 
• Waiving all prior authorization and re-authorization requirements for all DMEPOS items and repairs.  

Thanks to the American Association for Homecare who led the effort on this letter.  Everyone appreciates the strong response from the HME community in such a short time frame. AAHomecare will be sending these letters to all major commercial payers, including United Healthcare, Anthem, Humana, Aetna, the BCBS Association, Kaiser Permanente, Highmark, CareCentrix, Centene, Blue Shield of CA, and HealthNet (national and individual state plans). 

See the letter here.