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Decision: unknown

 
The rules say that plans must pay for a medical service or item if regular Medicare would pay for it in this case. 
You can find this rule at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 422.101. 
 
The rules say that a determination of the type of knee for the prosthesis will be made by the treating 
practitioner and/or the prosthetist based upon the functional needs of the beneficiary. Basic lower extremity 
prostheses include a single axis, constant friction knee. Other prosthetic knees are considered for coverage 
based upon functional classification. 
 
A high activity knee control frame (L5930) is covered for beneficiaries whose functional level is 4. 
 
A fluid, pneumatic, or electronic/microprocessor knee (L5610, L5613, L5614, L5722, L5724, L5726, L5728, 
L5780, L5814, L5822, L5824, L5826, L5828, L5830, L5840, L5848, L5856, L5857, L5858) is covered for 
beneficiaries whose functional level is 3 or above. 
 
L5859 (ADDITION TO LOWER EXTREMITY PROSTHESIS, ENDOSKELETAL KNEE-SHIN SYSTEM, 
POWERED AND PROGRAMMABLE FLEXION/EXTENSION ASSIST CONTROL, INCLUDES ANY 
TYPE MOTOR(S)) is only covered when the beneficiary meets all of the criteria below: 
 
Has a microprocessor (swing and stance phase type (L5856)) controlled (electronic) knee, a K3 functional level 
only,  has a documented comorbidity of the spine and/or sound limb affecting hip extension and/or quadriceps 
function that impairs K-3 level function with the use of a microprocessor-controlled knee alone, is able to make 
use of a product that requires daily charging and is able to understand and respond to error alerts and alarms 
indicating problems with the function of the unit. 
 
You can find this information in the Local Coverage determination (LCD) Lower Limb Prostheses L33787. 
 
 Addition codes for endoskeletal knee-shin systems are L5610, L5611, L5613, L5616, L5810, L5811, L5812, 
L5814, L5816, L5818, L5822, L5824, L5826, L5828, L5830, L5840 are considered an upgrade to the knee-
shin system. The beneficiary may qualify for an upgraded knee-shin system based on their assigned K-Level 
modifier (K0-K4), as referenced in the LCD. These HCPCS codes can fully describe a complete prosthetic 
knee-shin system commonly referred to as a "base knee code". A single addition code can fully describe a 
complete knee-shin system and thus the use of two codes (L5610, L5611, L5613, L5616, L5810, L5811, 
L5812, L5814, L5816, L5818, L5822, L5824, L5826, L5828, L5830, L5840) would be considered incorrect 
coding (unbundling). 
 
L5925, L5930, L5845, L5848, L5850, L5856, L5857, L5858, L5859 are additional features and/or functions 
that do not describe a complete endoskeletal knee-shin system and must be used in combination with an L-code 
for a knee-shin system (L5610, L5611, L5613, L5616, L5810, L5811, L5812, L5814, L5816, L5818, L5822, 
L5824, L5826, L5828, L5830, L5840). The use of additional feature L-codes may also depend on the assigned 
K-Level modifier (K0-K4), as referenced in the LCD. 
 
You can find this information in the Local Coverage Article - A52496. 
 
If you want to read these Medicare rules, you can go to this website www.medicareappeal.com. 
 
The Plan contract says that the Plan covers items and services in accordance with Medicare rules.