2012 Fee Schedule Gives DME a 2.4% Bump
Uptick reflects consumer price increases; competitive bidding Round One rates remain as they are.
- By David Kopf
- Nov 10, 2011
CMS has updated the Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies fee schedule for 2012 to give DME a 2.4 percent reimbursement increase. However, any products covered by competitive bidding Round One will remain at their current rates.
The bump up reflects an overall increase in consumer prices during a 12-month period ending June 2011. Annual review of Medicare reimbursement rates is partly attached to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U). This is offset by the Bureau's non-farm business multi-factor productivity (MFP) measure of U.S. economic output.
For 2011, the cumulative CPI-U for the 12-month period ending June 2011 was 3.6 percent and the non-farm MFP was 1.2, yielding a 2.4 percent increase for the 2012 update, CMS, said in a recent transmittal.
The full transmittal can be read at: http://www.cms.gov/Transmittals/downloads/R2340CP.pdf
Other updates for 2012 covered by the transmittal include:
- New HCPCS codes added.
- Several HCPCS codes deleted.
- An update to 2012 labor rates.
- An update to 2012 stationary oxygen equipment payment rates.
- An update to 2012 payment amounts for maintenance and servicing of certain types of oxygen equipment.
- Language clarification to hopefully clarify coding and pricing issues related to gap-filling DMEPOS fee schedule amounts.
About the Author
David Kopf is the Editor of HME Business.