BALTIMORE--CMS has set a Sept. 1 deadline for manufacturers to submit power chair and scooter test results that will be used to match products with billing codes and develop fees--all before 49 new mobility codes become effective Jan. 1, 2006.

"The sooner [testing] is done, the better," Joel Kaiser of CMS' division of community and post-acute care said at a CMS Open Door Forum held Thursday. "I encourage [manufacturers] to start right away."

CMS released the new codes for power chairs and scooters earlier this month as part of its overall initiative to revamp the Medicare mobility benefit. The agency is requiring products to be tested at some 30-35 facilities certified worldwide by RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America). Manufacturers must submit test results and a completed application for coding verification to the SADMERC (Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier) by the Sept. 1 deadline.

CMS said it hopes to have sufficient data by the September date to establish fees. But if it doesn't, "payment may be made on the basis of individual consideration of each claim until the necessary information is obtained," according to an agency statement.

CMS' initiative to revise the power chair billing codes represents the first update in 12 years, Kaiser explained, adding that "there has been major evolution in the technology since 1993. Obviously, something needed to be done."

For more information, visit the "Highlights" section of CMS' DMEPOS Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/suppliers/dmepos. Further information, including a coding verification application, is available on the SADMERC Web site by clicking here.

For more news, visit this week's HomeCare Monday, available at www.homecaremonday.com.