Ron, I spoke with Tara Alexandar in our reimbursement department about your question:
My answer to this would be that if the therapist resides in a state where they have direct access, then the therapist can conduct an evaluation and provide a written report to the person without jeopardizing their licensure or certification status. If they reside in a state that requires them to obtain a referral or script before any services are rendered, then they should not be performing an evaluation for DME or any service without following proper protocols. I won't even get into to the distinction between an assessment and an evaluation. An assessment being a shorter and informal type of evaluation (ex. quick checks performed at a mall or somewhere, no professional report necessarily needed). My questions is why would a DME supplier be asking for a therapist to perform an evaluation for a wheelchair instead of the provider? >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7/19/2005 12:21:25 PM >>> Does anyone receive requests from DME's to perform power w/c evals on a patients that are not currently receiving therapy? How do you handle these situations?. For example, do you call the doctor's office and request a script prior to doing the eval? Do you do the eval without a script and just send the patient's doctor a copy of the eval? To me, this seems to be a gray area. Medicare has all but mandated a therapy evaluation for power wheelchairs, but I can not find any documentation clearly delineating the procedural aspects of a one-time therapy evaluation for a power wheelchair. Thanks, Ron C. -- Unsubscribe? [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com Help? [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Unsubscribe? [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com Help? [EMAIL PROTECTED]
