Competitive Bidding, Accreditation Info Coming ‘Soon,’ CMS Says

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BALTIMORE–In a frustrating exchange during CMS’ DME, Home
Health and Hospice Open Door Forum Wednesday, caller Mike Marnhout,
president and CEO of Lexington, Ky.-based Bluegrass Oxygen, asked
if the agency could name the 10 metropolitan statistical areas in
which competitive bidding will begin.

While an official responded that CMS hopes to release the cities
it has selected “as soon as possible,” he also said he could not
release the locations before the final competitive bidding rule is
issued–and it is still unclear when that will happen.

“This is just ludicrous,” Marnhout told HomeCare Monday
after the call. “You can’t budget for what you need to do for next
year, you can’t do anything about your game plan. You don’t even
know what product lines are going to be included.”

Marnhout’s company has a location in Cincinnati, one of the
final 25 cities on CMS’ hot list for where the bidding program will
roll out. “It’s going to be dog-eat-dog in those 10 MSAs,” he
continued. “As a businessperson, what are you supposed to do?”

The industry’s providers have also been waiting for months on
information about which accreditors will gain “deeming authority”
from CMS to enforce Medicare’s new supplier quality standards, a
requirement for those who wish to participate in competitive
bidding.

After an Oct. 2 deadline when accrediting organizations were
required to turn in their applications, the agency said it would
issue a final decision within 30 days. But late on Nov. 3, the
organizations were notified that the agency was two weeks behind
schedule.

At the Open Door session, CMS’ Sandra Bastenelli said she also
was hopeful this information would be released “soon. I’m hoping by
this same time next Wednesday (this week) we’ll have that released
to you.”

Because of uncertainty about which organizations will be
approved, many suppliers have been waiting to begin the
accreditation process. A recent HomeCare survey showed 54
percent of unaccredited providers said they were putting off their
applications until the CMS decision.

CMS said earlier that it expected to include at least seven
accrediting bodies, but one industry source said the agency has
approved 10 DMEPOS accreditors. However, Bastenelli said, “Just
because they are approved to accredit, they are not approved to
accredit you for every single thing–every supply and every
prosthetic and orthotic.”

When the list of accreditors is issued, Bastinelli said, it will
be posted at www.cms.hhs.gov/competitiveacqfordmepos.

Also at the Open Door session:

  • An agency representative announced that CMS has not received
    many applications for National Provider Identifiers from DME
    companies. He reminded callers that all health care providers must
    have an NPI by May 23, 2007, and noted that for DME providers, each
    location must have its own NPI. More information is available at
    www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalprovidentstand.

The next Open Door Forum is scheduled for Dec. 20.

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