BALTIMORE — In a post on its website Thursday, CMS notified industry stakeholders of a national education call on competitive bidding Nov. 8. According to the notice, "The target audience for this call is DMEPOS suppliers that will not be contract suppliers in the program."
In a Friday post, the agency added a second call for referral agents Nov. 16. That call, the notice explained, is for "Medicare-enrolled providers, physicians, treating practitioners, discharge planners, social workers, and pharmacists who refer beneficiaries for DMEPOS items and services in a competitive bidding area."
Registration information for the Nov. 8 call, which will be held from 2 -3:30 p.m. ET, is available on CMS' competitive bidding page.
Registration instructions for the Nov. 16 call, also scheduled from 2 - 3:30 p.m. ET, will be available soon, the agency said.
The Medicare Learning Network has also released several new fact sheets on the bidding program, including "The DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program Traveling Beneficiary Fact Sheet" and two fact sheets related to exceptions for walkers: the "DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program Hospitals That Are Not Contract Suppliers Fact Sheet" and the "DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program Physicians and Other Treating Practitioners Who Are Enrolled Medicare DMEPOS Suppliers Fact Sheet."
According to CMS:
Under the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, beneficiaries with Original Medicare who obtain competitive bidding items in designated competitive bidding areas (CBAs) are required to obtain these items from a contract supplier, unless an exception applies. For the first phase of competitive bidding, which is effective January 1, 2011, one of these exceptions allows hospitals to furnish competitively bid walkers in a CBA to their own patients, without submitting a bid and being selected as a contract supplier. Similarly, another of these exceptions allows physicians and other treating practitioners who are enrolled Medicare DMEPOS suppliers to furnish competitively bid walkers in a CBA to their own patients without submitting a bid and being selected as a contract supplier.
To download all of the fact sheets, see the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Educational Resources page on the CMS website, then click the appropriate link in the "Downloads" section.
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