The nationwide recovery auditor (RAC) that handles issues involving home health, hospice and durable medical equipment (DME) recently added an issue involving DME while in hospice.
According to a
description of the issue: "All DME billed
after the admit date of a beneficiary to hospice services and
before the discharge date of a beneficiary from hospice services, will be denied as inclusive to hospice services unless there is a GW modifier present indicating DME is not related to the hospice diagnosis."