CMS strikes hydrophilic from the A4351 and A4352 descriptors
Descriptor revised · normal importance
- Announced
- 2026-01-30
- Effective
- 2026-01-01
CMS states it plainly: "Starting January 1, 2026, we revised the descriptors for HCPCS codes A4351 and A4352. There are no changes to the existing fee schedule amounts for these codes." The words "or hydrophilic" came out of both, pushing hydrophilic single catheters into the new A4295 and A4296. The Jurisdiction C supplier manual prints the old and the revised wording side by side, the revised one marked Revised 01/01/2026.
A4353 is not in that list and its descriptor did not change. The announced date recorded here is the revised release date printed on the MLN Matters article, which is later than the effective date it describes; the underlying change request carries no separate publication date on the document itself.
Codes this entry bears on
Sources
- [1] MLN Matters MM14326, DMEPOS Fee Schedule: CY 2026 Update · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · checked 2026-08-07
Change Request 14326, revised release date 2026-01-30, effective 2026-01-01, transmittals R13519CP and R13610CP. PDF, HTTP 200, 243,386 bytes, 7 pages, fetched and text-extracted on 2026-08-07. This is CMS in its own words on both halves of the January change: "We added fee schedule amounts to the DMEPOS fee schedule file for new HCPCS codes, including: A4295, A4296, A4297" and "Starting January 1, 2026, we revised the descriptors for HCPCS codes A4351 and A4352. There are no changes to the existing fee schedule amounts for these codes."
- [2] Supplier Manual, Summer 2026 (DME MAC Jurisdiction C), Appendix A · CGS Administrators, LLC (DME MAC Jurisdiction C) · checked 2026-08-07
CITE THE APPENDIX AND THE PAGE, NOT THE FILE. The relevant content is Appendix A, Level II HCPCS Codes: A4295, A4296 and A4297 on PDF page 249, A4351 to A4353 on page 250, and the transanal irrigation codes on pages 254 to 255. PDF, HTTP 200, 5,694,794 bytes, 448 pages, fetched 2026-08-07. Programmatic extraction needs a crypto backend: the file is AES-encrypted with an empty user password, so pypdf alone raises a dependency error and pypdf with cryptography reads all 448 pages with no password prompt. THE MANUAL CARRIES NO COVERAGE OR QUANTITY RULES, and says so: "The Level II HCPCS listed in Appendix A of this manual are provided as a guide for identifying items that are processed by the DME MACs. The appearance of a code in the appendix does not necessarily indicate coverage." Cited here for the descriptors as the DME MAC prints them, each stamped with its effective date.
- [3] CMS Catheter Changes: HCPCS Codes, Narratives, Standard Written Order Guidance for 2026 · HME Business (Arrowfly LLC), by Laurie Watanabe · checked 2026-08-07
HTTP 200, about 70 KB on 2026-08-07. Trade press, cited for the fact that the change was reported and when, never for the rule itself. Read closely, it gets the conditional order rule right and reports both branches, so it is not the origin of the oversimplification this page corrects. It does carry a typographical slip in its A4296 code list ("hydrophilic coding" for "coating"), which is why the descriptors on this page come from the DME MAC and CMS documents instead.