Question
If my patient has Medicare and needs a new speech processor for her Ponto bone anchored system, how does she go about getting one?
Answer
The patient would get a prescription from her doctor as the processor is a prescriptive device. Then the patient would call us at Oticon Medical, so that we can get some information from the patient to process the order. Once we get the prescription and the paperwork completed, we send the processor to the patient, obtain confirmation from the patient that she indeed received it, and then we bill Medicare. Once the patient receives the processor, they are responsible for getting it programmed from their audiologist, and for any fitting fees for the programming. Typically, patients return to where they were originally implanted. However, there are some clinics across the country that are very large and cater to patients from all over the country. Some patients who were originally fit at these clinics live quite a distance away. In these cases, patients can use the clinic finder on our website to find a location to have the processor fit.
This Ask the Expert was taken from Mr. Gorman’s recent AudiologyOnline interview – read the full interview here. For further information, please visit https://www.oticonmedical.com/ or the Oticon Medical Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.