Open Door Addresses Surety Bond Questions

BALTIMORE — At an Open Door Forum on Wednesday, CMS
officials ticked through a raft of important dates for DMEPOS
providers on accreditation, the interim final rule on competitive
bidding, the Recovery Audit Contractor program and use of the
revised 855S enrollment form. But it was clarification on several
points about the agency’s new surety bond requirement that garnered
the most attention from teleconference listeners.

In reviewing the $50,000 bond requirement, CMS’ Jim Bossenmeyer
emphasized the May 4 deadline for providers applying for Medicare
enrollment. If providers have an application pending with the
National
Supplier Clearinghouse on that date, he said, it is subject to
the bonding requirement unless the provider is exempt. Existing
providers must have a bond in place by Oct. 2.

Bossenmeyer said while the agency is still working with the
surety industry to come up with a bond “template,” he assured
providers “the market exists” and that they could find issuers.
Providers must, however, use a surety
approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and listed on
its Web site.

Once providers have settled on a surety, Bossenmeyer said, that
company may request any information needed to obtain a bond, such
as corporate and/or personal financial statements, tax returns, NPI
applications or billing policies and procedures.

When the surety has received all the materials and can begin
processing the bond request, Bossenmeyer said, “what we are told is
that this process should take approximately 15 days.”

Bossenmeyer added that once a surety bond has been obtained, it
is the provider’s responsibility to send proof of that bond to the
NSC.

Responding to a question on the bond deadlines, Bossenmeyer said
if a provider is changing ownership, a bond must be posted by May
4, but if an existing provider is simply submitting updated
information to the NSC, a bond is not required until Oct. 2. As to
how many bonds providers need, he stated, “You will need a surety
bond per practice location. If you are a corporation and you have
four locations, you need a bond for each one with a separate
NPI.”

One caller asked if a Medicare surety bond would be required if
providers were already holding a state-required Medicaid bond. “It
will need to meet federal requirements. It will need to be from a
company on the Treasury list. If you have obtained a bond from a
surety that is not recognized by Treasury, you will definitely need
a separate bond,” Bossenmeyer responded.

He said CMS would release additional FAQs addressing that issue and others within
the next weeks.

Also on the Open Door call (which drew 526 listeners):

• CMS’ Sandra Bastinelli reminded listeners of the Oct. 1
  accreditation deadline to retain billing privileges under Medicare.
  If providers have not complied by that date, she said, the NSC will
  begin the revocation process and providers will start receiving
  letters to that effect “on or after Oct. 2.”
• The agency will roll out its Recovery Audit Contractor program
  to all 50 states in 2010. To explain the program and give
  information to providers in “first-wave” states, CMS will hold two
  special RAC Open Door Forums, one for Part A providers on April 8
  and a second for Part B providers on April 14. To participate in
  the April 14 teleconference, which will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
  ET, dial 800/837-1935 and reference Conference ID 92489480. (For
  more on RACs, see RACs
  Ready to Rack Up Improper Payments, Nov. 17, 2008.)
• Officials encouraged providers to begin using the revised
  CMS-855S enrollment form now, but said it must
  be used on and after June 1. Access the form at www.cms.hhs.gov/cmsforms/downloads/cms855s.pdf.
• CMS’ Joel Kaiser said the competitive bidding interim final
  rule will become effective April 18. “The law requires us to
  conduct a competition in 2009,” he said, although he noted there is
  no new information about the program. “We are still evaluating a
  timeline to determine how to proceed in order to be in compliance
  with this requirement,” he said.