Greetings,
I had asked this in other forums and received no response so I wanted to ask here as well. Apologies if you had to read this twice. I might have spent too long looking at codes, regs, etc and I may be reading to much into it... but what exactly does that mean and where is it defined? This is from Title 38; Chapter I; Part 4; Subpart B; §4.96. It is also found in M21-1, Part III, Subpart iv, Chapter 4, Section D
"(d) Special provisions for the application of evaluation criteria for diagnostic codes 6600, 6603, 6604, 6825-6833, and 6840-6845. (1) Pulmonary function tests (PFT's) are required to evaluate these conditions except:
(i) When the results of a maximum exercise capacity test are of record and are 20 ml/kg/min or less. If a maximum exercise capacity test is not of record, evaluate based on alternative criteria."
What is that "alternative criteria?" Does it mean, use something else to evaluate such as symptoms or is there a chart or something? Thank you in advance.
S/
K
