July 1 Is New Target for Release of Bid Rates

BALTIMORE — After weeks of rumors and missing its own
deadline for a June release, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services will now announce new single-payment rates for the Round 1
rebid of competitive
bidding on Thursday, July 1.

CMS officials told members of the Program Advisory and Oversight
Committee in a phone briefing this morning that the new rates would
be posted tomorrow on the Competitive Bidding Implementation
Contractor website, www.dmecompetitivebid.com.

“They are going to email notices to [selected bidders] advising
them to expect a FedEx package on Friday,” confirmed one insider.
“No notification is going out to anyone else. They are not going to
identify the losers until they are sure they have all the contracts
signed.”

Providers and other HME stakeholders have been nervously
anticipating the new rates, which many speculate could
represent cuts at “suicide” levels. CMS, in spelling out the rebid
process, had said it would release the rates in June, with at least
one report pegging
the date on June 25. But that date came and went with no
rates, and providers have since been glued to their emails
expecting the announcement first on
Monday, then Tuesday and then today.

The American Association for Homecare’s Walt Gorski, vice
president of government relations and a member of the PAOC, was on
the morning briefing call. In a message to its members, the
association shared further details of CMS’ plan for the
announcement of bid rates:

• HME providers who are being offered contracts will receive
  notice by email on Thursday, July 1, and by FedEx on Friday, July
  2, officials said. Those providers will have 10 business days to
  accept or decline the contract offers. If providers have any
  questions, they can contact the CBIC at 877/577-5331.
• If the contract offers are not accepted, the CBIC will offer
  contracts to other providers until demand for the competitive
  bidding area is met.
• Bidding providers who were not offered bids or whose bids were
  disqualified will be notified when the contracting process is
  complete in September.
• CMS said the CBIC will post two charts on its website on
  Thursday, showing projected savings by product category in each
  CBA. The chart will also show the distribution of contract offers
  by CBA and the single-payment amounts by code and by CBA.
• CMS has created a division devoted to administration of the
  bidding program for DMEPOS, in addition to its current DMEPOS
  policy division.

One source told HomeCare the details for accepting a
contract are apparently complicated, noting, “Suppliers need to be
very careful in following the instructions.”

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