The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical Equipment Market

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The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical
Equipment Market
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The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical
Equipment Market
DME is a vital tool to care for patients with
COVID-19 as well as provide support to patients
who are in-home care so their chronic conditions
can be well-managed. We all are aware of COVID-19
is still disrupting the healthcare sector
specifically when it comes to supply chains such
as repeated shortages of a mask, personal
protective equipment (PPE), etc. Moreover, these
challenges also extend to durable medical
equipment (DME) and supplies required by often
at-risk patients in their homes to manage chronic
conditions and other medical issues.
Manufacturers and distributors have levied
surcharges and passed along increases in their
costs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also,
Suppliers are incurring additional operating
expenses, for instance, utilizing personal
protective equipment (PPE), providing IT
equipment for staff to work remotely, or
obtaining additional vehicles to make DMEPOS
deliveries to keep their employees safe. In
these uncertain times of pandemic, suppliers are
being financially harmed. They are unable to plan
either their costs or the level and stability of
revenue streams associated with delivering a
product to patients. Overall, the covid-19 has
impacted the DME market in both the short term
and long term.
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The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical
Equipment Market
Short term and long term risk In short term, we
have seen supply chain disruptions cause
shortages and delays of DME which could logically
mean poorer population health, including
increases in emergency department (ED) visits and
hospitalizations due to chronic condition
exacerbations. The patients will face a costly
medical crisis if it lags to get critical DME.
Moreover, In the case of patients home care
their care teams also need access to PPE, which
remains in short supply in many areas of the
country. Most of the time, physicians who write
a DME prescription for a patient are not aware
that a supply chain shortage exists due to
unanticipated DME shortages, payers and providers
need to work together to ensure patients have
ready access to much-needed home medical
equipment. Hence, payers and providers need to
work together to ensure patients have ready
access to much-needed home medical equipment. To
counter the adverse effect of the pandemic, CMS
has come with temporary regulatory waivers and
rule changes, lets see what are they?
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The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical
Equipment Market

• Response from CMS to Covid-19 pandemic
• With temporary regulatory waivers and rule
  changes, CMS is attempting to equip the
  healthcare system with the flexibility to respond
  to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic.
  For, instance, when DMEPOS is lost, destroyed,
  irreparably damaged, or otherwise rendered
  unusable, DME Medicare Administrative Contractors
  now have the flexibility to waive replacement
  requirements under Medicare. CMS is also waiving
  prior authorization and accreditation
  requirements for DME suppliers. Now, lets look
  at the latest CMS waiver published in (Nov-Dec
  2020).
• Temporary waived to certain requirements for DME
• Certain requirements for Durable Medical
  Equipment (DME), as well as prosthetics,
  orthotics, and supplies, are waived temporarily
  which are demonstrated below
• The waiver for Commercial members is effective
  March 6, 2020, through March 31, 2021. The waiver
  is subject to re-evaluation for the duration of
  the public health emergency.
• The waiver for Medicare Advantage members is
  effective March 6, 2020, through the duration of
  the public health emergency.

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The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Durable Medical
Equipment Market

• Requirements from Professional providers and
  suppliers
• Professional providers and suppliers must still
• Provide a standard written order (SWO) for all
  items
• Document and communicate to the DME supplier that
  the professional provider has had a face-to-face
  encounter (i.e., an in-person or telehealth
  encounter between a treating professional
  provider and an individual) with the member
  within the six months preceding the date of the
  written order/prescription for Power Mobility
  Devices (PMDs)
• Ensure that the items or services are reasonable
  and necessary
• Continue documenting the medical necessity for
  all services. Accordingly, the medical record
  must be sufficient to support payment for the
  services billed (that is, the services were
  provided, were provided at the level billed, and
  were medically necessary)
• The COVID-19 pandemic has proved the gaps in an
  existing supply chain that have downstream
  quality and economic effects far broader than PPE
  and ventilators alone. Hence healthcare providers
  and health plan partners need to implement
  successful supply chain quality improvement
  initiatives to benefits all the stakeholders.
• We have a team of experts in DME billing and
  coding. We can help you to improve your cash
  flow eliminate process loopholes that make you
  lose money.

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