Washington, DC, March 06, 2018 –(PR.com)– To meet the growing needs of beneficiaries in need of Durable Medical Equipment, and to overcome the ever-increasing reimbursement obstacles the Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) is urging durable medical equipment suppliers – who provide critical home oxygen therapy equipment to the millions of Americans currently living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – to swiftly adopt electronic prescription technology.
“It’s about time the industry moved beyond the burdensome and inefficient paper-based process for ordering medical equipment and towards a more seamless technology-driven platform,” said Dan Stack, Chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care. “By shifting to e-prescribing technology, providers can reduce documentation errors while enabling patients faster and sustained access to the medical equipment of which they are in desperate need. The adoption of e-prescribing technology will put the industry on a path toward a more stable and rational auditing system. However, the industry still needs Congress and CMS to improve the Competitive Bidding process and the reimbursement rates in the non-bid areas in order to fix the artificially low reimbursement rates that exist today.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 46.3 percent of all durable medical equipment orders are incomplete due to insufficient documentation. The improper payment rate for home oxygen therapy was 45 percent, according to the 2016 CERT report. Of that, 91.2 percent was due to missing documentation and only 0.3 percent was due to the beneficiary not meeting the medical necessity requirements. For CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) equipment, the improper payment rate was 59.6 percent. Of this percentage, 85.2 percent was due to missing documentation, but only 0.6 percent was due to an actual lack of medical necessity.
This documentation problem then triggers time-consuming, and ultimately unnecessary, audits. By adopting a more advanced claims processing technology, suppliers can cut down on erroneous claims and shorten the time it takes for patients to receive life-changing therapies.
Furthermore, e-Prescribing platforms have the potential to enhance coordination between providers, so patients with multiple comorbidities don’t get left behind – or have their claim unnecessarily audited.
“A smoother and simpler process for processing home oxygen therapy claims will allow hospitals to discharge their patients faster and get them the care they need sooner and with fewer delays,” Starck continued. “And by adopting a technology platform that can be easily integrated into existing workflow systems, patients would start to benefit from access to better equipment right away.”
To learn more, visit cqrc.org and follow CQRC on Twitter at @TheCQRC.
Contact Information:
The Council for Quality Respiratory Care
Sarah Rhoades
703-548-0019
Contact via Email
http://cqrc.org/
Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/746821
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