BALTIMORE--In an update posted to the CBIC Web site, CMS said the negative pressure wound therapy product category will not be included in round one for both the Kansas City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, competitive bidding areas because "an insufficient number of contracts were accepted to ensure viable coverage of this product category."
According to the notice, after implementation of the program July 1, any Medicare-enrolled supplier can furnish NPWT items and services in those two CBAs, and "payment will continue to be made in accordance with the standard fee schedule payment."
That leaves only four product categories under the bidding program--standard power wheelchairs, mail-order diabetic supplies, CPAPs and walkers--out of the original 10 that were bid in the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo CBA. Earlier this year when CMS posted a chart show
ing the number of round one contracts it had offered, a footnote explained that there were not enough qualified bidding suppliers to meet projected demand in the CBA in the oxygen, complex rehab, enteral nutrition, hospital beds or support surfaces categories. CMS had specifically designated the latter to be bid only in the San Juan and Miami CBAs. (See HomeCare Monday, April 29.)