[Regina]

When a patient's CPAP is capped, how do we handle sending a respiratory therapist to change the settings as ordered by the physician? Is there a way to get paid for this?

[DeeDee]

If the equipment is capped and the patient owns it - charge the patient for a Respiratory Therapy visit.

[Regina]

ok, next question- what do people charge for RT visits? There is some discussion in our office as to what the charge should be.

Thanks for your answer DeeDee!

[DeeDee]

Regina,

I would come up with an average charge based on a combination of:

• What you are paying your RT's Hourly
• Average length of visit
• What you are paying for mileage or incurring in vehicle costs, etc

2 - 2.5 times your hourly salary for your RT's would probably be a fair price to start for say a 1-hour visit. Then you could adjust from there.

[Regina]

thanks again!

[truthbeknown]

Who exactly is going to be paying for these home visits? I don't know of anyone who does, certainly not Medicare.

[Pattyl]

I think before you charge the bene you might want to read the MLN article #SE1009. If you go under CMS website to seach & type in SE1009 it will refer you to this MLN article. If this is a Medicare patient I don't think we can charge them for an RT visit. This is part of the bene safeguards for respiratory equipment. We wanted to do the same but after reading this we decided not to since we want to stay in compliance with all regulations. Even phone calls inquiring into this we were told that we could not do it. Private insurance is a whole different thing but when you are dealing with Medicare better to be safe than sorry!