Found this little tidbit buried in an email from region B. The email was supposedly about Supplier Standard 11, Prohibited Unsolicited Contact with a Medicare Benificiary but certainly draws a line in the sand regarding the timing on medical necessity documentation that I don’t remember seeing spelled out before.
“For all DMEPOS items, the initial justification for medical need is established at the time the item(s) is first ordered; therefore, beneficiary medical records demonstrating that the item is reasonable and necessary are created just prior to, or at the time of, the creation of the initial prescription. For purchased items, initial months of a rental item or for initial months of ongoing supplies or drugs, information justifying reimbursement will come from this initial time period. Entries in the beneficiary’s medical record must have been created prior to, or at the time of, the initial date of service (DOS) to establish whether the initial reimbursement was justified based upon the applicable coverage policy.”
Better get all your documentation in place before you bill.
Ted A. Trower CPO,
A-S-C Orthotics & Prosthetics
Jackson, MI
www.amputee.com
