AAHomecare to CMS: Don’t Adopt Proposed Standards, Do Mandate Inspections

ARLINGTON, Va.–Calling them “overly prescriptive,”
the American Association for Homecare last week urged CMS not to
adopt its proposed supplier standards for Medicare DMEPOS
enrollment and instead institute tough onsite inspections for new
suppliers.

“We support efforts to eliminate fraud from the DMEPOS
benefit, but we oppose adopting overly prescriptive standards that
have proven to be only modest deterrents to criminals yet create
operational inefficiencies for suppliers and can result in less
access for beneficiaries,” AAHomecare said in a 16-page
letter addressed to Kerry Weems, CMS’ acting administrator.
“Instead, CMS should ensure that all new suppliers undergo a
rigorous onsite inspection and are accredited before receiving a
Medicare billing number. We also encourage CMS to hold its
contractors accountable.”

Should CMS adopt any of the standards, however, AAHomecare
called on the agency to delay their implementation for one
year.

“Many of the changes CMS is proposing are significant, and
suppliers will need adequate time to organize their businesses to
comply,” said the letter, signed by Tyler Wilson, AAHomecare
president. “We strongly recommend a transition period of at
least one year to allow suppliers adequate time to come into
compliance with the new requirements.”

The comments were in response to CMS’ Jan. 25 proposal that
would revise and expand the existing supplier standards and add a
handful of new requirements. In its announcement, CMS said concern
over “easy entry into the Medicare program for qualified or
even fraudulent providers or suppliers has led us to increase our
efforts to establish more stringent controls on provider and
supplier entry.”

Since the proposed standards were revealed, industry
stakeholders have called them oppressive and detrimental to HME
businesses and beneficiaries.

In its argument against the proposal, AAHomecare took issue
with, among other things, CMS’ intent to prohibit
subcontracting.

“This requirement will no doubt limit the ability of some
suppliers to participate in competitive bidding,” the
organization said. “This is especially true with respect to
the oxygen product category, inasmuch as many suppliers currently
outsource the furnishing of some oxygen modalities and oxygen
equipment.”

AAHomecare also challenged CMS’ plan to prohibit unsolicited
telephone contact with beneficiaries.

“A literal interpretation of the proposed rule would
prohibit a supplier from contacting a beneficiary to arrange for
delivery of an item of DME pursuant to a physician’s verbal or
written order unless one of the exceptions in the proposed rule
applied,” the organization said.

The association also opposed establishing minimum hours of
operation and raised a number of issues regarding proposed
standards related to signage, physical service location and
business telephone numbers.

To view AAHomecare’s complete comments on the proposed supplier
standards, go to
www.aahomecare.org.

For a review of CMS’ proposed expansion of the supplier
standards, check HomeCare Monday’s special series by Neil
B. Caesar, president of the Health Law Center in Greenville, S.C.,
running each week from Feb. 4 through March 24. Visit the
HomeCare Monday archives at
www.homecaremonday.com.