CMS to clarify who can sell shoes
By HME News Staff
Updated Fri February 28, 2003
WASHINGTON - CMS “is moving to clarify the meaning” of who can furnish therapeutic shoes but has set no deadline for issuing the new policy, said a department spokesperson. At issue is the Carriers Manual definition that states footwear can be furnished by a podiatrist or other qualified provider such as a pedorthist, an orthotist or a prosthetist. The industry has long interpreted the phrase “other qualified provider” to include a whole range to providers (pharmacists and HMEs, for example), not just the “such as” examples in the Carriers Manual. “I think they are going to come out with what the law says, which is what I said,” said Region A Medicial Director Paul Hughes. “They may also give some criteria that may define other qualified providers that I as a contractor can say, ‘Yes you are. No you are not.' That is what I'm hoping for.” HME
Comments