A. Medical supplies

Medical supplies are items which, due to their therapeutic or diagnostic characteristics, are essential in enabling HHA personnel to carry out effectively the care which the physician has ordered for the treatment or diagnosis of the patient's illness or injury. Certain items designed only to serve a medical purpose are considered to be medical supplies, e.g., catheters, needles, syringes, surgical dressings and material used for dressings such as cotton gauze and adhesive bandages, and materials used in aseptic techniques. Other medical supplies include, but are not limited to, irrigating solutions, intravenous fluids, and oxygen.

Other items, often used by persons who are not ill or injured, may be considered medical supplies but only when (1) the item is recognized as having the capacity to serve a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose in a specific situation, and (2) the item is required as part of the actual physician-prescribed treatment of a patient's existing illness or injury.

For example, items which generally serve a routine hygienic purpose, such as soaps and shampoos, and items which generally serve as skin conditioners, such as baby lotion, baby oil, skin softeners, powders, lotions, etc., are not considered medical supplies unless the particular item is recognized as serving a specific therapeutic purpose in the physician's prescribed treatment of the patient's existing skin (scalp) disease or injury.