Washington The Health Care Financing Administration will drop HCPCS code E0192 as a biddable code in the second competitive bidding demonstration, and other codes also could be eliminated, HCFA officials said.

HCFA said the E0192 code, assigned to low-pressure/pressure equalization pads for wheelchairs, isn't defined clearly enough in its application to enable it to be bid upon. "We hope to bid for this code sometime in the future if it can be revised for greater clarity," said Mark Wynn of HCFA's Office on Research and Demonstrations. Other codes could meet the same fate, officials indicated, as they continue to evaluate comments that the agency called for in February on the codes.

By dropping the E0192 code, HCFA for the first time is acknowledging that some HCPCS codes for the demonstration might lack the conciseness needed to define all products assigned to a code.

In addition to E0192, HCFA officials said they would also delete one or more orthotic codes because the products covered by some of the orthotic HCPCS codes require a high level of customization for use by beneficiaries, making it almost impossible to bid on such items.

HCFA will continue to review comments on and make adjustments to the items up for bid in the second demonstration, scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2001, in San Antonio. The final list of biddable items will be released at or near the time of the San Antonio bidder's conference, HCFA officials said. No date for the conference has been set. -J.P.P.

Washington Manufacturers, importers, distributors and health care facilities must now report to the Food and Drug Administration any medical errors or negative incidents related to medical devices, according to a new FDA regulation.

The entire FDA regulation is available at gpo.lib.purdue.edu/bin/GPOAccess.cgi on the Internet by highlighting the 2000 Federal Register database and typing "FDA Medical Device Reporting" in the keyword search field. -J.P.P.