Poorly Completed Applications Slow Independents' Accreditation

Some accreditors have voiced their concerns over the lack of attention placed on correctly filling out the agecy's application. In particular, agency customer service representatives are spending an inordinate amount of time trying to sort through the paper work presented because it is unclear. At the very least, improperly filled out applications will delay accreditation and may cause prices to increases to accommodate the increased scrutiny required when dealing with independents.

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Does CMS Have Enough Bidders? We'll Know Soon!

Suppliers in the initial 10 competitive bidding areas have less than a week left to register for their user IDs and passwords--and the registrations will determine whether CMS gets the number of bidders it had expected.

Providers who want to participate in the first round of Medicare bidding must register by Aug. 27 in order to access CMS' Internet-based bid submission system.

On July 27, the previous bidding deadline, CMS extended its bid window until Sept. 25. Bidders must be accredited or be in the process of becoming accredited to submit a bid. First-round bidders now have until Oct. 31 to become accredited in order to win a contract.

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Is It Any Wonder?

Is it any wonder pharmacists aren’t rushing to obtain accreditation or competitively bid to sell DME! On a positive note, diabetic testing supplies, at least in this first round, are exempt.

However, what is not so good is that CMS has yet to set a date when all suppliers must obtain accreditation.

Additionally, with its selection of less than $3.5 million in aggregate sales as the benchmark for defining a small DMEPOPS supplier, CMS has removed the incentive for small supplier pharmacies to competitively bid. Typically, only 8 percent of a pharmacy's sales come from DMEPOS products, and most of that is from diabetes testing supplies.

Now, add the proposed requirement that suppliers must spend an additional $2,000 to obtain a $65,000 surety bond to bill Medicare, and you can see why pharmacists aren’t banging down accreditation agency doors.

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OK, Now I Dare You to Cross This Bid Line

Early last Friday, CMS issued notice that it was extending the window for DMEPOS competitive bidding an additional 60 days. This extension was granted to allow suppliers additional time to consider their bid submissions in the 10 bidding areas, and to have the opportunity to update their bids based.

“We wanted to make sure DMEPOS suppliers in the bidding areas had all the available information to them to make informed, yet competitive bids,” said Acting CMS Deputy Administrator Herb Kuhn. Well, there you have it!

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