The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the contract suppliers for Round One of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program.
Please visit the CMS Web site at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DMEPOSCompetitiveBid to view additional information.
To view the Press Release, please click: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press_releases.asp.
Revised ACCREDITATION Deadlines FOR DMEPOS Competitive Bidding!
In order to participate in the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program, suppliers must meet quality standards and be accredited by a CMS-approved Deemed Accreditation Organization. Suppliers that are interested in bidding in the second round of the program must be aware of changes to two key deadlines:
- Suppliers must be accredited or have applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008 (change from May 14, 2008) to submit a bid for the second round of competitive bidding. CMS cannot accept a bid from any supplier that is not accredited or that has not applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008.
- Suppliers will need to be accredited to be awarded a contract. The accreditation deadline for the second round of competitive bidding is January 14, 2009 (change from October 31, 2008). Suppliers must be accredited before this date to be awarded a contract. Suppliers should apply for accreditation immediately to allow adequate time to process their applications.
CMS has extended these deadlines because a significant number of suppliers in the 70 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) included in Round Two of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program have not yet applied for accreditation. Suppliers in these MSAs that do not meet these accreditation deadlines cannot become DMEPOS competitive bidding contract suppliers and will therefore be unable to furnish competitively bid items to any beneficiary residing in any part of the competitive bidding area during the contract period.
Suppliers can determine if they are serving beneficiaries in a Round 2 MSA by visiting the following web site: http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metrodef.html
and looking up their MSAs in the section called “counties with metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area codes.” (In this file, MSAs are called CBSAs.) For example, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA is comprised of two counties: Los Angeles and Orange.
We urge all suppliers serving Medicare beneficiaries in the 70 Round Two MSAs to apply for accreditation now.
For a list of the CMS-approved Deemed Accreditation Organizations, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/01_Overview.asp. For information about the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding program, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DMEPOSCompetitiveBid/ .
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