Responses to who owns a temporary prosthesis

Responses to who owns a temporary prosthesis

A.J. Squicciarini

2/22/2001

Dear List,

I would like to start by saying (If you could not tell by how I stated my
question, It seemed that a few did not!) that I believe a temporary (preparatory)
prosthesis should be the property of the amputee.

Many of our peers feel the same way.......Insurance company pays for it
(private,Hmo, caid, care) it becomes the property of the amputee......It
acts as a spare,etc.....

Except, Where IPOPS are concerned the components are not billed separately
so many feel this is
the property of the facility.

Many other practitioner provide the temporary prosthesis with its definitive
components and then only charge for a socket change and cosmesis when delivering
the final permanent prosthesis. This makes sense when the argument
is that a patient who can benefit from k2 componentry becomes comfortable,
complacent and is afraid to go beyond the base k4 componentry (you get the
picture)

Others will argue that the temp is not made to withstand everyday life activity
and if the patient is using a temp (as a spare)and gets hurt (due to some
type of breakage)
we will be held liable

Some will say a temporary is a loaner unit, fees charged
are for evaluation,
fabrication of the socket, dynamic alignment and some follow-up care. when
the definitive is delivered the entire temporary limb is returned to the
prosthetist and stripped down for the next temporary prosthesis.

Now heres what we learned:

The V.A. may argue (read the fine print in your insurance coverage) In the
VA system a veteran may not sell parts of their prosthesis as this would
be selling of government property, a federal crime. So I guess you can say
the prosthesis is property of the Government (something to think about).

And to take this a step further and this is really why I ask this question....only
because this is the argument i receive....
ready for this one...

According to the New York State Medicaid provider manual, all temporary
prostheses remain the property of the facility that provides the device.....Of
course, what you do with all of those returned components is the big question....you
may donate them to needy organizations (you should have documentation).
 I think Medicare is silent on the issue, until .....you (the facility)
get audited, they definitely want to see where all the components came from
that were billed for in new temps and definitives.

You may still respond to me on this issue or talk amongst yourselves .....I'm
sure this is not the end of this

thanks to all who responded














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