Equipment Maintenance DME Fact Sheet 

DME suppliers are to maintain a written policy that describes procedures on proper maintenance and care of PAP equipment ensuring optimal working condition, electrical and mechanical safety and includes procedures for infection control.   

Applicable Accreditation Standards

The DME supplier must provide appropriate quality equipment to patients. For this accreditation, such equipment may include any of the items listed below: 

  1. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Auto-Adjusting Positive Airway Pressure devices. 
  2. Respiratory Assist Devices (RAD), including but not limited to: Bi-level, Bi-level Spontaneous, Bi-level Spontaneous/Timed, Auto-Adjusting Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure devices, and Servo Ventilation devices. 
  3. PAP Humidifiers 
  4. PAP supplies (e.g., mask, hoses, filters) 
  5. Portable oximeters 

A current and valid prescription must be maintained on file from the ordering healthcare professional and must contain a diagnosis code appropriate for the equipment and /or items prescribed.  

There must be a written plan for the monitoring of all returned PAP equipment for electrical and mechanical safety, including: 

  • DME Suppliers must have a written procedure for infection including cleaning and inspecting all equipment; this includes sterilization, high-level disinfection, or the application of germicidal agents after each use that is consistent with the manufacturer’s recommendations, federal and state health policy regulations and institutional standards. 
  • Reported or detected failures of equipment must be categorized and analyzed for cause and a plan for preventing future failures must be documented.  
  • DME Suppliers must physically separate clean and dirty equipment in compliance with its infection control plan. 
  • DME Suppliers must have a policy in place that documents the procedures(s) used to delete all PHI and physiologic data from equipment that stores data.  

Definition of Medical Equipment

For accreditation purposes, medical equipment is defined as CPAP/BiPAP devices, respiratory assistive devices, PAP humidifiers, supplies, and portable oximeters.

Purpose of Equipment Maintenance 

The purpose of equipment maintenance is to ensure the safety of patients and personnel, as well as the accurate and uninterrupted operation of all patient-related equipment, through routine inspection, ongoing maintenance, and infection control procedures. 

Written Equipment Maintenance Plan Requirements 

  • Ensure that manufacturer’s manuals, warranties, and maintenance instructions are maintained and accessible to staff.
  • Include instructions for equipment return, which should cover:
    • Separation of clean and dirty equipment
    • Disposal of supplies
    • Downloading and deleting physiological data or PHI prior to cleaning
    • Cleaning and infection control procedures
    • Use of disinfectants and/or sterilization
    • Location of clean equipment
  • Outline equipment inspection and record-keeping requirements, including:
    • Physical condition of the equipment
    • Performance checks
    • Any noted problems
  • Establish procedures for reporting defective or malfunctioning equipment. 

Billing and Discrepancy Resolution Policy

  • Describes procedures necessary to prevent errors prior to billing (e.g., at the time of referral, completion of physician orders, accurate insurance authorizations). 
  • Provides controls for discovering errors and discrepancies before submission to the insurance company (e.g., reviewing claims for completeness, accuracy, and diagnosis codes). 
  • Addresses responses to patient inquiries regarding billing. 

Key Things to Keep In Mind

  • Each prescription from the ordering healthcare professional must include the appropriate code for each item ordered.
  • All equipment failures must be recorded in an equipment log. Routine reviews should categorize the failures, analyze their causes, and develop plans to prevent future occurrences.
  • Ensure that manufacturer’s manuals and warranties are easily accessible to staff.
  • The supplier must maintain a separation between clean and dirty areas.