Durable Medical Equipment

By Lindsay D. Andronaco RN, BSN, CWCN, WOC, DAPWCA, FAACWS Public policy is an aspect that affects every day practice for most wound, ostomy and continence nurses, but is something that we do not generally think about. One health policy topic that is in the forefront of my mind is how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is looking to change the process for how patients access or DME products. This change in public policy would affect the access of these necessary products to our patients.

By Samantha Kuplicki, MSN, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CWS, CWCN, CFCN Ordering wound care dressing supplies can prove to be a frustrating task for many providers and clinicians. Unfortunately, I have encountered many health care providers that describe feelings of dread when working with their durable medical equipment (DME) counterparts.

By Samantha Kuplicki, MSN, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CWS, CWCN, CFCN In the last installment of my blog, we discussed a brief overview of billing for wound care products and dressings (durable medical equipment or DME) in several common care settings. Let's talk about the Hospital Outpatient Department (HOPD) a little more in-depth. Again, we will use Medicare as the standard for payment policy, as many payors use them as a model for policy-making.

By Samantha Kuplicki, MSN, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CWS, CWCN, CFCN It is becoming increasingly difficult to be involved in wound care at any level without having a working knowledge of the intricacies of varying policies regarding surgical dressings for wounds. Care setting, Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for your geographic region and pertinent DME Local Coverage Determinations (LCD), type of dressings desired, and wound assessment are all factors that clinicians responsible for ordering supplies should be aware of. For practical purposes, we will mainly discuss Medicare as a reference for payors, as many commercial, contracted, and private payor policies are modeled after Medicare* policies.