CMS details 2017 calculations for oxygen

WASHINGTON - CMS has made available its 2017 calculations for oxygen generating portable equipment, stationary oxygen contents and portable oxygen contents. Each year, the monthly fee schedule payment amounts for stationary oxygen equipment—HCPCS codes E0424, E0439, E1390 and E1391— are adjusted to make the additional payment classes for oxygen and oxygen equipment that were added in 2007 budget neutral. Separate payment classes were added in 2007 for portable concentrators, portable oxygen transfilling systems, stationary oxygen contents and portable oxygen contents. Medicare expenditures each year may not be more or less than they would have been if these separate payment classes had not been established. Therefore, the fee schedule amounts for stationary oxygen equipment are reduced by a certain percentage each year to balance the increase in payments made for the additional separate payment classes. CMS details these calculations in a new download on its website. Industry stakeholders have argued that the calculations apply a “double dip,” using this methodology and the competitive bidding rates to artificially lower payment amounts in rural areas.