CMS's final rule for national competitive bidding is in clearance at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is not the first time the industry has expected, but not seen, the final rule. However, this time, it was actually published on the agency's docket.
What I really don’t understand is that if competitive bidding is to begin in October 2007, as has been signaled to the industry in the past, what challenges are holding up the release.
The Government Printing Office will publish the rule in the Federal Register and CMS will post it on its Web site as soon as it clears the OMB. This should occur quickly.
I expect the rule to outline CMS's timeline for rolling out competitive bidding. I’m hopeful CMS will finally identify the first 10 metropolitan statistical areas AND the DMEPOS product categories.
Keep your fingers crossed that CMS will have the good sense to exclude diabetic testing supplies.
Bill Popomaronis, R.Ph., NCPA vice president, home health and long term care pharmacy services, provides his thoughts and explanations on the latest DME information from CMS.
