CMS Says ‘Get Ready for Competitive Bidding’

BALTIMORE — In an email sent Friday morning, CMS announced
the next steps in its implementation of the Round One rebid of
competitive bidding, including the general timeline for opening the
bid window in the fall of this year.

According to the notice, the rebid will occur in the following
MSAs (the same as the first Round One with the exclusion of Puerto
Rico):

• Cincinnati – Middletown (Ohio, Kentucky and
Indiana)
• Cleveland – Elyria – Mentor (Ohio)
• Charlotte – Gastonia – Concord (North Carolina
and South Carolina)
• Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington (Texas)
• Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas)
• Miami – Fort Lauderdale – Miami Beach
(Florida)
• Orlando (Florida)
• Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania)
• Riverside – San Bernadino – Ontario
(California)

The rebid will include the following product categories (the
same as the first Round One except negative pressure wound therapy
items and group 3 complex rehabilitative power wheelchairs are
excluded):

• Oxygen and Oxygen Equipment
• Standard Power Wheelchairs, Scooters, and Related
Accessories
• Complex Rehabilitative Power Wheelchairs and Related
Accessories (Group 2 only)
• Mail-Order Replacement Diabetic Supplies
• Enteral Nutrients, Equipment and Supplies
• Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines,
Respiratory Assist Devices (RADs), and Related Supplies and
Accessories
• Hospital Beds and Related Accessories
• Walkers and Related Accessories
• Support Surfaces (Group 2 mattresses and overlays) (in
Miami only)

“Congress mandated that competition for the Round One
rebid occur in 2009. CMS is announcing the next steps to implement
the DMEPOS competitive bidding program now to give the supplier
community ample time to prepare as well as inform other
stakeholders,” said Charlene Frizzera, CMS acting
administrator, in a release accompanying the announcement.
“This program generated substantial savings for Medicare and
beneficiaries who used these items and supplies in the competitive
bidding areas last summer and is consistent with CMS’ goal to
pay appropriately for Medicare items and services.”

CMS will now begin general “pre-bidding” awareness
and education efforts on key steps DMEPOS providers need to take to
be ready for registration and bidding, including getting
appropriate state licenses, updating Medicare enrollment files with
the National Supplier Clearinghouse and getting accredited and
bonded, the release said.

The agency reiterated it will convene a meeting of the Program
Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) on June 4 before announcing
the detailed timeline for the bidding program in the summer. (See
story this issue.)

“The bidder registration period is expected to begin this
summer before bidding opens in the fall. CMS has made a number of
process improvements for the Round One rebid, such as an upgraded
on-line bid submission system, early bidder education and increased
oversight of bidders that are new to product categories or
competitive bidding areas to ensure they meet CMS’
requirements,” the agency said.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act
excluded certain DMEPOS items and areas from bidding and provided
an exemption to the program for hospitals that furnish certain
types of DMEPOS items to their own patients. “However,” the
release stated, “MIPPA did not fundamentally change the nature of
the competitive bidding program as established by the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA)
or the existing competitive bidding regulations that were finalized
in 2007.”

The full CMS press release is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press_releases.asp.

A CMS fact sheet on the bidding program is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.

The CMS email announcement follows in its entirety:

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008
(MIPPA), enacted on July 15, 2008, made limited changes to the
Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and
Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program, including a
requirement that competition to re-bid Round 1 occur in 2009. On
January 16, 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) issued an interim final rule with comment period that
incorporates into regulations only those provisions of MIPPA
related to the DMEPOS competitive bidding program that are
self-implementing and necessary to conduct the Round 1 rebid
competition in 2009. That rule became effective on April 18, 2009.
To ensure that suppliers have ample time to prepare for the
competition, CMS has announced the following next steps for the
program:

SPRING 2009
• CMS BEGINS PRE-BIDDING SUPPLIER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
• PROGRAM ADVISORY AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (PAOC) MEETING
(JUNE 4, 2009)

SUMMER 2009
• CMS ANNOUNCES BIDDING SCHEDULE/SCHEDULE OF EDUCATION
EVENTS
• CMS BEGINS BIDDER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
• BIDDER REGISTRATION PERIOD TO OBTAIN USER IDS AND PASSWORDS
BEGINS

FALL 2009
• BIDDING BEGINS

If you are a supplier interested in bidding, prepare now –
don’t wait!

• UPDATE YOUR NSC FILES: DMEPOS supplier
standard # 2 requires ALL suppliers to notify the National Supplier
Clearinghouse (NSC) of any change to the information provided on
the Medicare enrollment application (CMS-855S) within 30 days of
the change. DMEPOS suppliers should use the 3/09 version of the
CMS-855S and should review and update:

• The list of products and services found in section
2.D;
• The Authorized Official(s) information in sections 6A and
15; and
• The correspondence address in section 2A2 of the
CMS-855S.
This is especially important for suppliers who will be involved in
the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. These suppliers
must ensure the information listed on their supplier files is
accurate to enable participation in this program. Information and
instructions on how to submit a change of information may be found
on the NSC Web site (www.palmettogba.com/nsc) and
by following this path: Supplier Enrollment/Change of
Information/Change of Information Guide.

• GET LICENSED: Suppliers submitting a
bid for a product category in a competitive bidding area (CBA) must
meet all DMEPOS state licensure requirements and other applicable
state licensure requirements, if any, for that product category for
every state in that CBA. Prior to submitting a bid for a CBA and
product category, the supplier must have a copy of the applicable
state licenses on file with the NSC. As part of the bid evaluation
we will verify with the NSC that the supplier has on file a copy of
all applicable required state license(s).

• GET ACCREDITED: CMS would like to
remind DMEPOS suppliers again that time is running out to obtain
accreditation by the September 30, 2009 deadline or risk having
their Medicare Part B billing privileges revoked on October 1,
2009. Accreditation takes an average of 6 months to complete. It is
very important for DMEPOS suppliers to contact an accreditation
organization right away to obtain information about the
accreditation process and submit an application. Suppliers must be
accredited for a product category in order to submit a bid for that
product category. CMS cannot contract with suppliers that are not
accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization.

Further information on the DMEPOS accreditation requirements
along with a list of the accreditation organizations and those
professionals and other persons exempted from accreditation may be
found at the CMS website: www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/01_Overview.asp.

• GET BONDED: CMS would like to remind
DMEPOS suppliers that certain suppliers will need to obtain and
submit a surety bond by the October 2, 2009 deadline or risk having
their Medicare Part B billing privileges revoked. Suppliers subject
to the bonding requirement must be bonded in order to bid in the
DMEPOS competitive bidding program. A list of sureties from which a
bond can be secured is found at the Department of the
Treasury’s “List of Certified (Surety Bond)
Companies;” the Web site is located at: www.fms.treas.gov/c570/c570_a-z.html.

Visit the CMS Web site
for the latest information on the DMEPOS competitive bidding
program.