Patients Ultimately Suffer with 36 Month O2 Cap in Place
Our DME company was recently contacted by a patient who had moved into our service area from Florida in order to be closer to his cheildren. We were asked to take over his stationary and portable oxygen needs. Unfortunately, his provider in Florida had been paid for 35 months of O2 rental. We had to turn down his request, because after receiving 1 month of reimbursement we would have been responsible for the next 24 months of service for practically no money. There is now a patient using a concentrator that he brought with him from Florida, with no portable oxygen system or any backup oxygen system in place. The provider in Florida probably wants their equipment back, but in order to retrieve it, they would be denying this patient any oxygen source at all. The patient loses, the provider loses, but I guess medicare wins because no one is sending them any claims for this patient.
