AOPA Action Alert
AOPA
Description
Collection
Title:
AOPA Action Alert
Creator:
AOPA
Date:
9/24/2003
Text:
September 24, 2003
URGE MEDICARE TO REVERSE FREEZE ON MEDICARE SUPPLIER
NUMBERS FOR O&P
As many of you are aware, O&P facilities are facing
extended delays in receiving new supplier numbers when
applying through Medicare. The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) and Medicare's Office of Inspector
General(OIG) recently announced that the National Supplier
Clearinghouse is withholding issuing new Medicare DMEPOS
supplier numbers or reactivating supplier numbers
regardless of specialty. AOPA has been told that new
supplier numbers will not be issued until at least early
2004, if not later.
The impetus for this action was durable medical equipment
(DME) suppliers who inappropriately provided power-driven
wheelchairs to Medicare beneficiaries. However, CMS has
once again implemented a policy targeted at the DME
industry that has inadvertently ensnared O&P providers.
AOPA believes that heavy-handed one-size-fits-all
policies must not be applied to both O&P practitioners
and the DME industry.
While AOPA recognizes the need to eliminate fraud and abuse
within the Medicare program, we believe this arbitrary and
capricious decision unfairly targets O&P and will create
tremendous hardships for many O&P patient care facilities
and their patients.
AOPA is in discussions with senior CMS officials and is now
working with lawmakers to reverse this decision. But we
also need input from the O&P community.
Therefore, AOPA asks that all O&P professionals immediately
contact key Medicare officials and National Supplier
Clearinghouse personnel (listed below) and ask that all O&P
providers who submit applications for Medicare supplier
numbers be exempted from this policy. We have provided you
with a sample letter to send to Medicare officials that
you can cut and paste on to your company's letterhead.
If you have questions about this Action Alert, please call
AOPA's Walter Gorski at (571) 431-0809.
AOPA thanks you for your efforts on behalf of the O&P field.
Your input makes a difference!
URGE MEDICARE TO REVERSE FREEZE ON MEDICARE SUPPLIER
NUMBERS FOR O&P
As many of you are aware, O&P facilities are facing
extended delays in receiving new supplier numbers when
applying through Medicare. The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) and Medicare's Office of Inspector
General(OIG) recently announced that the National Supplier
Clearinghouse is withholding issuing new Medicare DMEPOS
supplier numbers or reactivating supplier numbers
regardless of specialty. AOPA has been told that new
supplier numbers will not be issued until at least early
2004, if not later.
The impetus for this action was durable medical equipment
(DME) suppliers who inappropriately provided power-driven
wheelchairs to Medicare beneficiaries. However, CMS has
once again implemented a policy targeted at the DME
industry that has inadvertently ensnared O&P providers.
AOPA believes that heavy-handed one-size-fits-all
policies must not be applied to both O&P practitioners
and the DME industry.
While AOPA recognizes the need to eliminate fraud and abuse
within the Medicare program, we believe this arbitrary and
capricious decision unfairly targets O&P and will create
tremendous hardships for many O&P patient care facilities
and their patients.
AOPA is in discussions with senior CMS officials and is now
working with lawmakers to reverse this decision. But we
also need input from the O&P community.
Therefore, AOPA asks that all O&P professionals immediately
contact key Medicare officials and National Supplier
Clearinghouse personnel (listed below) and ask that all O&P
providers who submit applications for Medicare supplier
numbers be exempted from this policy. We have provided you
with a sample letter to send to Medicare officials that
you can cut and paste on to your company's letterhead.
If you have questions about this Action Alert, please call
AOPA's Walter Gorski at (571) 431-0809.
AOPA thanks you for your efforts on behalf of the O&P field.
Your input makes a difference!
Citation
AOPA, “AOPA Action Alert,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 6, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/221678.
