SADMERC coding lags for DME
By HME News Staff
Updated Tue May 31, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A landslide of manufacturer coding requests has buried the SADMERC and "as a result, we are unable to respond to certain requests within our typical response time of 90 days," read a notice posted on the contractor's Web site in April. The overflow is due in part to the HIPAA mandate that all insurance carriers use HCPCS codes in billing for DME. The SADMERC has also made coding existing power chairs and scooter models under the new 49 mobility codes a priority before they take effect in 2006. Medicare expects the SADMERC to be "back on track" by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the SADMERC wants companies to refrain from calling for status updates. It also wants manufacturers to prioritize the code requests they send in to only the most critical items. HME
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