“Helping” referral sources to create appropriate letters of medical necessity (LMNs) can be a tricky, time-consuming effort for providers these days. Medicare and other payors are demanding that those letters provide more details on everything from client diagnoses to why lesser equipment won’t fill the bill, but at the same time, they’re preventing providers from creating check-the-box, fill-in-the-blank form letters for referral sources.

Is there a happy medium? CRTS Jim Noland of Presque Isle Rehabilitation Technologies in Erie, Pa., thinks so. He knows first hand the cost of receiving incomplete, vague LMNs from referral sources, so he’s developed lmnbuilder.com, a Web-based tool that he says is fully HIPAA compliant and can help referral sources to create LMNs without also creating conflicts of interest.

Providers can securely upload client/equipment spec sheets for therapists, who can then use lmnbuilder.com’s process to write detailed, original, comprehensive LMNs to pass on to funding sources. At press time, this new resource was due to launch in February, so go to www.lmnbuilder.com to see if this site can help you — and your referral sources — to get the LMNs you need…on the very first try.