PayorTransparency

CMS changes the short description carried alongside A4479

Descriptor revised · low importance

Announced
2026-06-17
Effective
2026-07-01

A4479's record in the alpha-numeric HCPCS file for July 2026 carries the action code for a change in short description, with an action effective date of July 1, 2026. The July DMEPOS fee schedule file prints the current abbreviation, "Transanal irrigation, electr". The LCD's HCPCS code list still carries the earlier one, "Electro pump enema, reusable".

The long descriptor did not change and has never changed. Recorded because the superseded abbreviation reads like a different device, and a reader who meets it in a claims tool or a coding write-up may reasonably conclude that A4479 used to mean something else. The register says otherwise: the code was added on April 1, 2026 and carries no termination date.

The announced date recorded here is the date stamped on the data file inside CMS's July 2026 quarterly release, which is the only publication date the file carries.

Codes this entry bears on

A4479

Sources

  1. [1] HCPCS Level II Alpha-Numeric File, July 2026 quarterly update · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · checked 2026-08-07

    THE AUTHORITATIVE REGISTER OF CODE STATUS, and the one document that answers questions the coverage determinations cannot: when a code was added, whether it has been terminated, and what kind of change was last made to it. Downloaded on 2026-08-07 from https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/july-2026-alpha-numeric-hcpcs-file.zip, HTTP 200, 2,499,217 bytes, SHA-256 5591fed257e4d2307c1d2dc9c66abc8e346b1f4c076e9e48559799e2de14b70a; the data file inside is HCPC2026_JUL_ANWEB_06172026.txt and the field positions are documented in HCPC2026_recordlayout.txt in the same archive. Read here for four records. A4353: code added date 19970101, action effective date 20030101, action code N for no maintenance, and NO termination date, which is the register-level confirmation that the code is live. A4297: added 20260101. A4479: added 20260401, action code S for a change in short description, action effective date 20260701, no termination date. A4351: added 19900101 with an action effective date of 20260101, the descriptor revision. The long description field is 80 characters and the short description 28, so a long descriptor read from this file alone can be truncated; the full text belongs to the coverage documents cited beside it.

  2. [2] DMEPOS Fee Schedule, July 2026 (file DME26-C) · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · checked 2026-08-07

    Effective 2026-07-01. Downloaded on 2026-08-07 from https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/dme26-c.zip, HTTP 200, 5,085,402 bytes, SHA-256 78bcc2956f2e00f70fb4016bd44be470fb34ac1cc65b7321aa25e8dadb8be478. Figures read independently from DMEPOS_JUL.csv and the fixed-width DMEPOS_JUL.txt inside it, which agree exactly. The A4297 amounts by state, all taken from the per-state non-rural column, which the record layout names UPDATED FEE SCHEDULE AMOUNT and describes as the amount used for pricing: 9.99 in AL AR AZ CA CO GA IA ID IN KS KY LA MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NM NV OK OR SC SD TN UT WA WI WY and VI; 9.97 in CT DE FL IL MA MD ME NH NJ NY OH PA RI TX VA VT WV and DC; 10.06 in AK; 10.75 in HI; 10.97 in PR. The record layout and methodology are documented in DMEREAD 2026.pdf and DMEBACK 2026.pdf inside the same zip. www.cms.gov returns HTTP 403 to some fetch libraries and serves normally to curl with a browser User-Agent; the file itself is served directly and no licence interstitial was submitted to obtain it.

  3. [3] Local Coverage Determination L36267, Bowel Management Devices · CGS Administrators, LLC and Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC (the four DME MAC jurisdictions), via the CMS Medicare Coverage Database · checked 2026-08-07

    Version 44, revision effective 2026-04-01. HTTP 200, 194,466 bytes on 2026-08-07. Coverage API weekly snapshot, data captured through 2026-08-02 and refreshed 2026-08-06; the API is not a live read. Seeded now because it governs the hub's three bowel-management codes and its `policy` document has to exist before those pages reference it. All 58 DME MAC LCDs were swept and their HCPCS lists queried: this is the only one in the set containing A4453, A4459 or A4479, and none of the three appears in L33803.

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