A supplier of motorized wheelchairs that has been a target of a crackdown by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is suing CMS to get paid for power mobility vehicles delivered to Medicare beneficiaries.

The Scooter Store of New Braunfels, TX, alleges in the lawsuit that CMS continues to improperly deny valid reimbursement claims submitted in compliance with physician orders. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio late last month.

The suit is a reaction to a CMS crackdown in September 2003 on durable equipment businesses that fraudulently supplied power wheelchairs to program beneficiaries that were not medically necessary.
 
Separately, The Scooter Store on May 31 asked the same federal district court to dismiss a counterclaim filed against it April 29 by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services. The government alleged the store convinced beneficiaries and their doctors to write orders for power wheelchairs instead of for less expensive scooters.