CMS Now Allowing 90-Day Billing for CGM
As a reminder, as of Jan. 2, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began allowing 90-day Medicare billing for continuous glucose monitor (CGM) supplies.
In an October update to members, AAHomecare President/CEO Tom Ryan said, “The 30-day billing requirement for CGM supplies was a source of confusion for patients and an unnecessary paperwork burden on suppliers and DME MACs. I appreciate the persistent work of our Diabetes Council and Regulatory Council in making the case for this common-sense change with regulators. This is a big win for CGM suppliers and their patients.”
An entry in the CMS Manual System for October informed the DME MACs to change the billing cycle to “90-day increments to align with the current practices in place for blood glucose monitor supplies.”
Researchers: Wound-Healing Technology Could Also Treat Parkinson’s disease
Researchers at the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) College of Medicine have reported that a new wound-healing technology might also help with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
A Jan. 3 announcement said Frederick Carrick, M.D. (UCF professor of neurology), and Kiminobu Sugaya, M.D. (professor of medicine at the neuroscience division of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at UCF), developed a ceramic far-field infrared (cFIR) blanket that contains “specially designed ceramics wrapped in a rubber blanket.”
Carrick and Sugaya used the cFIR blanket to treat a non-healing wound on a patient who also had Parkinson’s. “They found the technology also decreased his hand tremor and frozen [gait],” the announcement said.
After seeing improvements in balance and movement among mice who had simulated Parkinson’s disease and were treated with the ceramics, “Carrick stated that their investigation showed the treatment increased the number of brain cells in the areas of the brain associated with Parkinson’s disease,” the announcement said.
UCF researchers are now studying the ceramic blanket’s effects on Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, and heart failure.
