Tag: Council for Quality Respiratory Care

WASHINGTON – Patient access to in-home respiratory care may be negatively impacted if a shortage in semiconductor chips is not addressed, warns the Council for Council for Quality Respiratory Care.  In a March 15 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, CQRC and nine other respiratory care stakeholders urge the administration to use its authority to help address the shortage of semiconductor chips used in home...

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has made it a priority to find out what happens when the waivers expire that have simplified the process for qualifying a patient for home oxygen therapy during the public health emergency.  “We’ve had several conversations internally and with CMS, but there is a big issue looming if CMS doesn’t act on what’s going to happen post-pandemic with all those patients,” said Crispin Teufel, chairman of the...

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care is asking industry stakeholders to contact CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to standardize the paperwork requirements for home oxygen coverage.  The CQRC says requiring physicians to provide medical records could result in “the vast majority of claims being denied.”  “CMS has indicated that physicians will be required to provide their medical records instead of using a form with the information...

WASHINGTON – A coalition of respiratory stakeholders, including the Council for Quality Respiratory Care, are again asking CMS to ensure that objective standards for prescribing home oxygen therapy are put in place to prevent payment issues for HME providers and access issues for patients.  In an Oct. 4 letter, the CQRC and 11 other organizations, including AAHomecare and VGM & Associates, asked CMS to eliminate...

WASHINGTON - Dropping the CMN requirement for home oxygen without ensuring there are objective measures in place to support the need for therapy could expose providers to claim denials and put patient access at risk, says Crispin Teufel, chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care.  “We appreciate the expansion of oxygen coverage, but at the same time, some things worry us, like the subjectivity to which providers are subjected to by contractors and judgment calls,” he...

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care in a statement today encouraged CMS to reconsider eliminating the CMN for home oxygen therapy.  The CQRC, a coalition of the nation’s largest respiratory providers and manufacturers, says doing that would replace “objective testing ordered by a patient’s physician for the subjective decision-making of Medicare contractors.”  “We are highly supportive of allowing acute patients to receive oxygen...

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care in a statement today encouraged CMS to reconsider eliminating the CMN for home oxygen therapy. The CQRC, a coalition of the nation’s largest respiratory providers and manufacturers, says doing that would replace “objective testing ordered by a patient’s physician for the subjective decision-making of Medicare contractors.” “We are highly supportive of allowing acute patients to receive oxygen therapy outside...

Being the recipient of Google Alerts for “oxygen concentrator” is a scary and sad place to be right now.  I have these alerts set up for a number of key terms in the HME industry – think “sleep therapy” and “home infusion” and “AdaptHealth” and “Invacare.” They’re delivered to my email inbox every afternoon.  Recent alerts for “oxygen concentrator” have been almost exclusively related to...

WASHINGTON – Home respiratory care providers have played a crucial role amid the ongoing public health emergency and lawmakers should support policies that ensure long-term reimbursement stability in the market, the Council for Quality Respiratory Care stated in testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.  The CQRC submitted the testimony as part of a recent hearing on “The Long Haul: Forging a Path Through...

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has partnered with AAHomecare and the VGM Group to send a one-page letter to CMS urging the agency to finalize the DMEPOS final rule as quickly as possible.  A proposed rule published in October outlined the agency’s plans to make permanent the 50-50 blended reimbursement rates in rural areas.  “In light of the pandemic, it is more important than ever that the Medicare...