WASHINGTON--Industry leaders are pushing CMS to clarify Medicare's newly released mobility coverage policy.

The Restore Access to Mobility Partnership has asked CMS to issue interim guidance on the National Coverage Determination as soon as possible so HME stakeholders "can eliminate the possibility that severe problems could result from the new coverage policy during the transitional period before companion regulations are released.

"CMS' intentions are unclear with respect to the impact of mobility limitation on completing the activities of daily living," according to a statement from RAMP, a coalition that includes AAHomecare, Invacare Corp., The Med Group, Mobility Products Unlimited, Pride Mobility and Sunrise Medical.

The National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology also said there are numerous areas of the NCD that are "vague and open to interpretation."

In a recent statement, NCART said that "CMS will allow coverage of [mobility-assistive equipment] where a caregiver is compensatory 'if consistently available in the beneficiary's home....' There are multiple problems with these criteria, particularly for prescribing wheelchairs. What is meant by 'consistent'? Who determines consistency? What sort of recordkeeping will be required? Moreover, who determines when a beneficiary is noncompliant with treatment and therefore does not qualify for MAE?"

The new mobility coverage policy, released May 5, eliminates the requirement that Medicare beneficiaries be bed- or chair-confined and instead adopts function-based criteria for determining medical necessity. However, the policy kept in place the in-the-home requirement, language that RAMP, NCART and other advocacy organizations are seeking to eliminate.

The organizations are also pushing to expand the definition of "activities of daily living"--which the government defines as activities such as eating, grooming, bathing and toileting--to include mobility itself.

To read the NCD, click here.