IN THE NEWS
CMS Announces 2 Percent Reduction
CMS To Hold DMEPOS HCPCS Public Meeting CMS is scheduled to hold a meeting June 4, 2013, to discuss preliminary determinations for applications for new durable medical equipment and accessories and O&P Health-Care Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes and payment determinations for the 2014 update. The meeting provides a forum for interested parties to make oral presentations or to submit written comments in response to preliminary coding and payment determinations. The discussion will be focused on responses to CMS’s specific preliminary recommendations and will include all items on the public meeting agenda. The draft agenda, including a summary of each request and CMS’s preliminary decision, is expected to be posted on the HCPCS website at least four weeks before the meeting. The public meeting will be held in the main auditorium of the CMS central building, 7500 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21244. Written comments may be sent via email to HCPCS@cms.hhs.gov or via mail to Jennifer Carver or Kimberlee Combs Miller, HCPCS Public Meeting Coordinator, CMS, 7500 Security Blvd., Mail Stop C5-08-27, Baltimore, MD 21244.
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O&P Almanac MAY 2013
CMS has announced a 2 percent reduction in Medicare payments, which went into effect April 1, 2013, as part of the mandatory reductions in federal spending, known as sequestration, required by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Medicare fee for service claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies, including claims under the durable medical equipment Competitive Bidding Program, will incur a 2 percent reduction in Medicare payment based on whether the date of service, or the start date for rental equipment or multiday supplies, was on or after April 1, 2013. The claims payment adjustment will be applied to all claims after determining coinsurance, any applicable deductible, and any applicable Medicare Secondary Payment adjustments. Though beneficiary payments for deductibles and coinsurance are not subject to the 2 percent payment reduction, Medicare’s payment to beneficiaries for unassigned claims is subject to the 2 percent reduction.
TRANSITIONS
people in the news
Physicist Louis Bloomfield, PhD, a physics professor at the University of Virginia, has invented a type of silicone rubber that is both rigid and fluid—a viscoelastic solid. The material has compliant, adaptive characteristics that may be useful for contact points in prosthetic devices. U.S. Paralympian April Holmes, a sprinter and gold-medal winner, has been named to the list of “Top 10 Women to Honor in Paralympic Sports” by the International Paralympic Committee.
Renee Knight Woodberry has been appointed the newest board member of the Orthotic and Prosthetic Activities Foundation. Erik Schaffer, CP, owner and president of A Step Ahead Prosthetics, created a realistic-looking, high-heeled transfemoral prosthesis for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy character Dr. Arizona Robbins, giving her the appearance of having an above-knee amputation.
In MEMORIAM Candice Kasuyama, CO, passed away January 28 at the age of 46. She graduated from the California State University program of O&P in 1990 and joined what was then Orthomedics. She spent more than 20 years with what was to eventually become Hanger Clinic; for several years she managed Hanger’s Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital office, specializing in pediatric orthotics. Kasuyama spent one year with Prosthetic and Orthotic Group Inc. in Southern California before the illness that eventually took her life forced her to leave the O&P field.
Gregory “Greg” Ferrell Scott, CP, who served as AOPA president (1989-1990) and owned Webb’s K.E. Karlson in Portland for many years, passed away March 6. He found great satisfaction helping those that needed it most. Scott graduated in 1956 from Marquette High School in Yakima, Washington, and the University of Portland in 1961. Surviving Scott are his wife, Susan, children, sisters, and grandchildren.