Letter to the editor
By HME News Staff
Updated Thu December 17, 2009
I am the operations manager of a DME company in Florida and felt compelled to write you to get the word out on PECOS feedback from physicians. I have been attempting to notify my physicians since the end of October and I have run into some serious backlash from our physicians. Many have contacted me with several concerns. First, they want to know why they have to submit a Social Security number under PECOS? Second, they want to know why I'm the first person they're hearing this from and not Medicare? Finally, they want to know, if this only affects patients that they order DME for, those patients can get another doctor!
Ultimately, my concern is that physicians will have no motivation to register for PECOS and this will lead the DME industry into another game of cat and mouse. DME providers must have the physician register in order to continue gaining reimbursement. How does this affect the physician? It doesn't. I find it unnerving that CMS has incorporated a system without adequate notice to create more set-backs for DME providers. Isn't this what the NPI was supposed to achieve? Even when the NPI registration was implemented, providers and physicians had two years to initiate the process. With PECOS, it's 90 days! That's not realistic.
I urge providers to fight back on the PECOS requirement. At some point, providers and physicians have to say enough is enough! Thank you for your time and attention to my concerns.
- Virginia Hatcher, operations manager, RespiCare, Melbourne, Fla.
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