On January 13, 2009, the Office of the Inspector General released an updated Telemarketing Alert, which described when a provider could and could not solicit a Medicare Beneficiary

The rule states that HME providers may only contact Medicare beneficiaries in three circumstances:

1. The beneficiary has given written permission to the supplier to make contact by telephone; or
2. The contact is regarding a covered item that the supplier has already furnished the beneficiary; or
3. The supplier has furnished at least one covered item to the beneficiary during the preceding 15 months.

But the rule has been updated with a very unrealistic provision: "A physicians' preliminary written or verbal order is not a substitute for the requisite written consent of a Medicare beneficiary"

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