Round 2 Details Coming, CMS Says

BALTIMORE — While CMS is still reviewing bids for Round 1 of competitive bidding — pricing will be announced in June and winners in September — agency staff said it will also announce the final Round 2 bid schedule and begin a bidding education and registration program later this year.

At a March 17 meeting of the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee, formed to advise CMS on the bidding program, agency officials said Round 2 bidding will take place between the spring and summer of 2011. Pricing will be announced in the spring of 2012 with contract winners following in the summer; implementation is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2013.

Additional details for Round 2, which will add 70 MSAs to the national bidding program for DME, will be in a notice of proposed rulemaking expected this summer. In a final rule to be published this fall, CMS will announce the Round 2 product categories.

The entire Round 2 timeline looks like this:

• Summer 2010 — Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released.
• Fall 2010 — The final rule and product categories released; pre-bidding awareness program begins.
• Winter 2011 — CMS announcement of the bidding schedule, beginning of bidder education.
• Spring 2011 — Registration ends, bidding begins, and the covered document review process begins (notification if financial documents are missing).
• Summer 2011 — Bidding ends.
• Fall 2011 — Covered documentation review process ends, and bid evaluation begins.
• Spring 2012 — Bid evaluation ends, single payment amounts are announced, and the contract process begins.
• Summer 2012 — Contract suppliers are announced, contract supplier education begins, and general supplier education begins.
• Jan 2013 — Round 2 is implemented.

While Round 1 of the program includes nine cities, three of the country's largest MSAs — New York, Chicago and Los Angeles — were excluded until Round 2.

CMS has recommended that those areas be subdivided into smaller competitive bidding areas. The Chicago area would include four CBAs, Los Angeles would be divided into two CBAs, and the 23-county New York MSA would be split into five CBAs.

The divisions were based on factors including population, allowed DME charges, geographic size and location of counties, driving distances, highway infrastructures and location and servicing area of suppliers, CMS staff said.

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