Legislation at the end of 2019 to change Medicare’s manual wheelchair funding policies have now taken effect, NCART said in a July 1 announcement to Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) stakeholders.
In December, Congress passed legislation to exempt CRT manual wheelchairs and accessories from Medicare’s controversial competitive bidding program, and to provide an 18-month moratorium on applying competitive bidding-derived reimbursement rates to CRT manual wheelchair accessories. That 18-month period began Jan. 1, 2020, and continues through June 30, 2021.
“CMS needed time to get the new payment rates into the claims processing system,” the NCART bulletin from Executive Director Don Clayback said. “As of [July 1], the Medicare Fee Schedules officially reflect these updates.”
NCART added that suppliers can now use the KU modifier when they bill CRT manual wheelchair accessories with dates of service of July 1, 2020, or later. For claims that were submitted with dates of service from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2020, suppliers “can submit for a retroactive payment adjustment through a streamlined resubmission process using a Reopening Request Form.
More details on these CRT manual wheelchair changes can be found on the CMS Web site.
