Location, Location, Location: Medicare's Requirements

What You Need to Know:

Certain types of locations must always be separately enrolled while others do not require enrollment:

• Types of Locations That Must Be Separately Enrolled:
• Individual retail stores
  
• Specific patient care sites
  
• Types of Locations That Do Not Require Enrollment:
  
• Administrative offices not serving patients
  
• Warehouses not directly involved in patient care

Generally, two separate Medicare billing numbers cannot be registered at the same address. However, one narrow exception to that prohibition is physicians furnishing items to their own patients as part of their professional services. 

Finally, separate suites in the same building that the U.S. Postal Service recognizes as distinct addresses are considered different locations. Or, stated inversely, an individual or entity that creates a new suite within a building that is not recognized by the U.S. Postal Service as a unique mailing address would not be compliant with Medicare's requirements.

What This Means for You:

If you have multiple locations, you must make sure that all of those involved in the delivery of patient care have been enrolled with Medicare via your National Provider Enrollment Contractor - Novitas for the East region and Palmetto for the West. In addition, you must understand the restrictions on multiple Medicare numbers at a single address and the narrow exceptions to that requirement. That information is contained in the DMEPOS Supplier Standards. 

Please note that unless you look at the actual regulatory language for the Supplier Standards, you are likely seeing only an abridged version of those requirements. We strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the complete version of the Supplier Standards laid out in the Code of Federal Regulations. You can click here to see them.