CQRC Commends CMS for Ending DME Enrollment Moratorium While Encouraging Medicare Program Reforms
The expiration of the six-month Medicare moratorium supports continued access to trusted durable medical equipment (DME) providers and the high-quality respiratory care
WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) commends the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision to allow the six-month moratorium announced in February on certain DME providers, including respiratory care suppliers, to expire as scheduled. CQRC applauds the Administration’s efforts for prioritizing program integrity in the Medicare program and supports the expiration of the moratorium to enable more patients to access care and good-faith providers to deliver quality services and supplies.
By allowing the moratorium on new DME Medicare provider enrollees to expire, the Administration is providing greater certainty and predictability for legitimate providers and the Medicare beneficiaries they serve, ensuring that program integrity efforts do not inadvertently restrict trusted providers from delivering essential at-home respiratory care that millions of Medicare beneficiaries depend on every day.
CQRC supports CMS’s goals to strengthen the program integrity of Medicare’s home oxygen benefit and efforts to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. The CQRC remains committed to working alongside CMS to advance effective, targeted solutions for identifying and combating Medicare fraud, including advancing program integrity efforts that protect patient access to legitimate DME providers and the high-quality respiratory care and equipment they depend on.
The CQRC has advocated for targeted, technology-based solutions to strengthen Medicare program integrity. As outlined in the CQRC’s response to CMS’ Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare (CRUSH) request for information, the adoption of the standardized electronic clinical data elements already developed by CMS would safeguard patients, suppliers, and providers ordering claims. Incorporating the electronic template would help prevent fraudulent billing by creating clear clinical verification standards and improving the efficiency and accuracy of oxygen ordering, helping to effectively identify suspicious claims and providers while focusing resources on actual fraud and abuse.
This standardized oxygen template is supported by patient, physician, and provider organizations as a provision of the bipartisan Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act (S.1406/H.R.2902) to advance oxygen access reforms.
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The Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) is a coalition of the nation’s leading home oxygen therapy providers and manufacturing companies providing in-home patient services and respiratory equipment including liquid oxygen, oxygen concentrators, and sleep therapy devices to Medicare beneficiaries who rely upon home oxygen therapy to maintain their independence and enhance their quality of life. Learn more at cqrc.org.
Media Contact:
Ava Schafbuch
707-787-7503