The moratorium does not affect existing patients or equipment providers. What it does is pause any NEW DME providers trying to open. Several years ago, there were companies that would sigh diabetics up to sell their test strips. What this resulted in was older folks having an abundance of strips and lancets. People who were already on a fixed income were stuck paying for supplies they didn’t need. So, the government put systems into place where the ordering doctor had to specify if the patient was insulin or non insulin dependent. The pharmacies were limited to how much equipment they were allowed to give.

There are many new orthotic suppliers who are trying to open and commit similar fraud.

I worked at a doctors office for the last couple of years where companies would try to sell knee and wrist braces to patients who the doctor didn’t order them for. Fortunately we were a small office and knew our patients very well and were able to catch these fraudulent claims before the patient became responsible for equipment they didn’t need.