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.
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.
