FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. (February 9, 2021)—Össur, a global innovator in prosthetic and non-invasive orthopaedic technologies, has implemented critical updates to its proprietary Empower Össur program, helping physician practices, durable medical equipment, and prosthetic and orthotic suppliers (DMEPOS) comply with new, federally mandated competitive bidding requirements for knee and back braces that went into effect on Jan. 1.
A fully automated, fully customizable web-based DMEPOS Practice and Workflow Management Solution, Empower by Össur combines reimbursement, real-time inventory management and consulting services within a single paperless platform, providing a complete day-to-day practice management solution.
“From the start, Empower by Össur has been helping medical professionals keep their practices running efficiently so they can focus on what matters most: their patients,” said Mark Tymchenko, Össur’s vice president, Americas Bracing & Supports.
“CMS’s new competitive bidding practice mandates for spine and knee bracing adds yet another level of complexity and demands on clinicians’ time, and simple errors can have serious consequences on a practice’s bottom line. This is why we prioritized upgrading Empower, to help our customers minimize the challenges of meeting these new requirements,” he said.
In October 2020, the U. S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that for the first time, the 2021 DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program would include off-the-shelf back and knee braces. CMS then released single payment amounts for these products and designated 127 geographic competitive bidding areas (CBA), which can increase complexity whenever practitioners prescribe and dispense knee or back braces for their patients. Additional information about the CMS policy and CBAs is available here.
According to Tymchenko, Össur quickly implemented enhancements to Empower software including built-in prompts for new reimbursement coding and document capture requirements, as well as automatic mapping to designated CBA Medicare payers based on a patient’s address. Össur also offers a vast line of bracing and support technologies, from off-the-shelf to custom-fit options in the company’s flagship Rebound, Unloader, Formfit and Miami lines that remain compliant within the new competitive bidding guidelines.
Össur offers various resources to help medical practices address the challenges of new competitive bidding standards, including online reimbursement and regulatory (R&R) newsletters and bulletins, key terminology and HCPCS L-Code guidance documents, as well as hands-on benchmarking with dedicated business solutions managers. Medical practices enrolled in Empower are also entitled to unlimited consulting, auditing and compliance reviews for competitive bidding as well as for all aspects of DMEPOS business practices and procedures.
Empower by Össur is fully HIPAA compliant and compatible with HL-7 data sharing standards. It also is one of the few platforms in the world to have earned the elite HITRUST-CSF certification for its secure cloud-based file storage system. The team at Empower by Össur has over six decades of practice management consulting experience, with a dedicated account manager assigned to provide support and service to each practice on an ongoing basis. To date, the team has processed nearly 3 million orders and supported over 87,000 physicians in collecting more than $250 million in reimbursements.
Össur is currently offering Empower by Össur on a 90-day trial basis, with up to five users/locations per account and all resources and services provided at no cost. Additional details are available at ossur.com/empower.
“Whether it is in providing innovative bracing and supports technologies that help patients’ mobility or specialized solutions like Empower by Össur, we are continually committed to helping clinicians fulfill their primary purpose so even more people can enjoy life without limitations,” Tymchenko said.
