The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new “Telemarketing FAQs” to supplement the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) recent revisions to its Special Fraud Alert on Telemarketing by Durable Medical Equipment Suppliers. As you may recall, in January 2010, the OIG amended the Special Fraud Alert to add a warning about suppliers contacting a beneficiary before the supplier receives written beneficiary consent, as it may violate the statutory provision that prohibits Durable Medical Equipment (DME) suppliers from making unsolicited telephone calls to Medicare beneficiaries regarding the furnishing of a Medicare-covered item. Specifically, the OIG stated that it “has also been made aware of instances when DME suppliers, notwithstanding the clear statutory prohibition, contact Medicare beneficiaries by telephone based solely on treating physicians’ preliminary written or verbal orders prescribing DME for the beneficiaries.” According to the OIG, the “physician’s preliminary written or verbal order is not a substitute for the requisite written consent of a Medicare beneficiary.”

In response to this new language, Reed Smith contacted the OIG to discuss the adverse impact this policy would have on timely beneficiary access to medically necessary equipment ordered by a physician, since some suppliers call a beneficiary to arrange for equipment deliveries upon receiving an initial physician verbal order. The OIG has just sent us a copy of new CMS Telemarketing FAQs that seek to clarify certain aspects of the revised Special Fraud Alert. Notably, CMS clarifies that there are circumstances in which a supplier may contact a beneficiary based on receipt of a physicians’ order if the physician contacts the supplier with the beneficiary’s knowledge:

Question 3: Is a supplier contacting the beneficiary based on the receipt of a physician order considered an “unsolicited” contact?

Answer 3: If a physician contacts a supplier on behalf of a beneficiary with the beneficiary’s knowledge, and then a supplier contacts the beneficiary to confirm or gather information needed to provide that particular covered item (including delivery and billing information), then that contact would not be considered “unsolicited.” Please note that the beneficiary need only be aware that a supplier will be contacting him/her regarding the prescribed covered item, recognizing that the appropriate supplier may not have been identified at the time of consultation.

On the other hand, if the beneficiary is not aware that the physician would be contacting the supplier on the beneficiary’s behalf, the contact may be prohibited.

Question 4: What if a supplier contacts the beneficiary based solely on the physician order (and therefore the contact is without the beneficiary’s knowledge that the physician would be contacting a supplier on the beneficiary’s behalf)?

Answer 4: Then that contact would be considered “unsolicited” and, depending on the facts and circumstances of the particular case, may be prohibited.