Many of the waivers established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the COVID-19 National Emergency and Public Health Emergency (PHE) are set to expire on May 11th, 2023. Many of these emergency waivers have been in place since early 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, so that patients could receive timely and efficient care. The PHE gave the federal government flexibility to waive or modify certain requirements, including Medicare and Medicaid qualification and coverage criteria.
With the official expiration of certain PHE waivers coming quickly, Lincare sets the standard to be ahead of the curve in preparation for these qualification and coverage changes that may impact our Medicare and Medicaid patients. We have begun preparing for the May 11th, 2023 expiration of the PHE Waiver. As an educational resource for our patients and referral sources, we care about helping inform you, so we can also navigate through these changes together.
As a patient or referral source, we want to share with you some of these simplified updates:
- Standard Written Order (SWO) guidelines and timeframes
- The latest from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on documentation and encounter requirements
- Testing requirement clarifications
We are providing this information so that you, too, can begin to prepare for these upcoming changes. We suggest that you visit the CMS Website to obtain more information and a complete description of the changes.
If you have additional questions, call to speak with one of our experienced Customer Service Representatives at your LOCAL LINCARE CENTER for more information.