Noridian TENS Clarification Article

Noridian has retired their TENS clarification article with an effective date of June 18, 2018. The summary provided by Noridian states the following: “This is retired due to lack of evidence of current problems and CMS NCDs 10.2,160.7.1 160.27 guidelines regarding the medical necessary uses and coverage of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), the supplies and assessing the suitability for electrical nerve stimulation therapy. The Noridian guidance in the retired article may still be helpful in assessing medical necessity. Where providers have adjusted their billing and coding practices to correspond to the guidance in a coverage article, they will want to be very careful in departing from these practices just because the article is retired. Provider offices remain responsible for correct performance, coding, billing, and medical necessity under Medicare. This responsibility for correct claims submission is unchanged whether there is a coverage article in place or not”.

To access the Noridian Retired coverage articles from our website, follow the instructions below.

• Go to Medicare Coverage Articles
  • The End User Agreement for Providers will appear if you have not recently visited the website. Select “Accept” (if necessary).
• Select the state of interest in the table under “Retired Articles.”
  • This link will redirect you to the CMS website.
• Locate the above-listed CMS Medicare Coverage Database (MCD) number and article title and select the title of interest.