Medicare will require documentation of a face-to-face visit with a treating practitioner before a supplier can deliver a home ventilator, most manual wheelchair types, or a portable gaseous oxygen system, under a notice the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published on July 30.
The change takes effect October 28. It adds 22 billing codes to what the agency calls the Required Face-to-Face Encounter and Written Order Prior to Delivery List, bringing the total to 105 items. A separate and smaller set of eight codes moves onto the Required Prior Authorization List, where Medicare must approve the item before it is provided at all.
