Scope of Practice:

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy by Podiatric physicians

It is the Board’s opinion that the LCD by CMS of 5/1/2011 represents the current delineation of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy by Podiatric physicians, and it is within the scope of practice for Maryland licensed podiatrists.

Podiatric physicians may supervise hyperbaric oxygen therapy if such a service is within their State scope of practice. However, such supervision is only covered/reimbursed when the body area or condition being treated by the hyperbaric oxygen is also within the scope of practice (e.g., a diabetic wound of the leg distal to the mid calf).

Physicians supervising hyperbaric oxygen therapy should be certified in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or the American Board of Preventive Medicine (APBM) or must haw completed additional training in hyperbaric medicine, such as the 40-hour training required by the ABPM Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training and certification of supervising physicians (and NPPs) is required in physician offices and off-campus hospital sites; and in on-campus provider-based departments for which provider-response time to the chamber can be expected to exceed five minutes.