forward April 26, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) released a preliminary Medicare coverage determination for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. Until HCFA releases a final national policy, this coverage decision grants Medicare carriers the discretion to make coverage decisions forward a case-by-case basis or between the walls of local medical policy. Although HCFA states that, pending a national policy, carriers are not required to disguise AAC devices, the announcement officially voids the prior national policy that prohibited Medicare coverage for AAC devices
