December 28, 2015
CRT Stakeholders and Friends,
This afternoon the President signed S-2425, the legislation passed on December 18th which includes the one year delay in the application of competitive bid rates to accessories used on Group 3 Complex Rehab Power Wheelchairs. So the delay is now official.
We reached out to CMS officials last week regarding the CRT delay and were told once the President signed the bill, CMS would issue supplier instructions. So we expect to see something shortly. Our recommendation is to hold off on billing any claims for Group 3 Power Wheelchair accessories with dates of service on or after January 1, 2016 until this CMS guidance is received.
As we have reported, unfortunately this one year delay does not apply to accessories used with Complex Rehab Manual Wheelchairs. Those accessories will be paid at the recently posted 2016 Medicare Fee Schedule amounts which translates to them being paid at competitive bid rates. We will be working on solutions to this issue as part of our activities in early 2016.
We will share additional information as soon as available.
Regards,
Don
Donald E. Clayback
Executive Director | NCART
Office 716-839-9728 | Cell 716-913-4754
dclayback@ncart.us |www.ncart.us