Legislation Introduced to Fix DME Face-to-Face

Under current law, CMS has been tasked with enforcing a rule that would require an NP to obtain a physician's documentation on their patient's medical record certifying that a face-to-face encounter with that patient has taken place when ordering certain DME.  CMS's most recent statement on September 9 explained that they "will start actively enforcing and will expect full compliance with the DME face-to-face requirements beginning on a date that will be announced in Calendar Year 2014." In short, the delay is still in effect.  A link to the full statement released by CMS on the DME face-to-face requirement rule can be found here[app.streamsend.com].

In response to this burdensome rule, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) has introduced legislation, H.R. 3833, which would allow NPs to certify that the required face-to-face assessment with their patient has occurred when ordering DME products; no other provider would need to be involved.  To help gather support for this legislation, we ask that every NP or patient of an NP use the link provided to contact their Members of Congress[app.streamsend.com] to ask them to support this important piece of legislation.

Also if you encounter a supplier who will not fill your DME order, please provide them with the full CMS announcement and ask that they fill your order.  We also ask that you email us at governmentaffairs@aanp.org so that we can track those suppliers that are not filling DME orders provided by NPs.

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 01/24/14