HME Stakeholders Back Letter to Commercial Payers Concerning COVID-19

At least 150 providers sign letter that outlines 18 policy recommendations to help HME suppliers better serve patients and ease burdens on hospitals during the COVD-19 pandemic.

• By David Kopf
• Mar 26, 2020

More than 150 HME providers and industry stakeholders added their signatures a joint industry letter to major commercial payers recommending policy changes designed to help patients and hospitals during the COVID-19 crisis.

The letter outlines 18 recommendations including: 

• A normal schedule for claims adjudication and processing.
• Coverage for short-term oxygen benefits and supplies for beneficiaries with acute conditions to ease hospital overflow issues.  
• Coverage and reimbursement of equipment, supplies and services for patients diagnosed with COVID-19. 
• Waiving all prior authorization and re-authorization requirements for all DMEPOS items and repairs. 

The American Association for Homecare noted that the letter will be send to all major commercial payers, including United Healthcare, Anthem, Humana, Aetna, the BCBS Association, Kaiser Permanente, Highmark, CareCentrix, Centene, Blue Shield of CA, and HealthNet (national and individual state plans).

The letter is available at bit.ly/2WLM9Cz. AAHomecare urged providers to share the recommendations with any additional third-party payers.

“We appreciate the strong response from the HME community in such a short time frame,” a statement from the association noted.