Home Health & Hospice Week

PMD suppliers should pay attention.

The feds tried to calm fears in a recent conference call to educate home medical equipment suppliers facing accreditation deadlines--but the call may have added to some suppliers' accreditation anxiety.

"You should not be biting your fingernails," quipped Sandra Bastinelli of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the start of the Jan. 22 "listening session" conference call, noting that CMS wouldn't be making any policy statements during the call. About 1,400 dialed into the session.

Accreditation 101: For the most part, the call was an educational overview of what the Medicare Modernization Act requires for quality standards and accreditation for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS). But agency representatives also made clear that suppliers trying to shortchange quality and still secure accreditation would be shot down.

"The focus of accreditation should be viewed as increasing the standards of care," said Bastinelli. CMS is "serious" about "raising the bar," she said.

"If you have anything else in mind you are really wasting your time and our time and the accrediting organization's time," she cautioned.

Suppliers calling into the session seemed more accepting that the accreditation would apply to them, a point that Bastinelli reiterated early in the call.

CMS does not have the power to exempt any groups [from accreditation]," said Bastinelli. Pharmacists, physicians, and therapists who supply DMEPOS have recently queried CMS often about the relevance of the deeming process to them.

Clarification: CMS did elaborate on how ac-creditation deadlines apply to chain suppliers: When suppliers with 25 or more locations currently providing DMEPOS to Medicare beneficiaries subsequently add a new location, the new location will not have to be accredited until the Sept. 30, 2009 deadline.

Other suppliers seeking a new number for the National Supplier Clearinghouse will need to secure accreditation earlier. Those applying for a number between now and Feb. 29 have only until Jan. 1, 2009 to secure accreditation. Those applying for a supplier number on March 1 or later must be accredited at the time of application.

Stay On Top Of Standards

The call didn't hold any big surprises for most suppliers, but those who provide power mobility devices may want to listen with a keen ear to Bastinelli's comments regarding rehabilitation technology specialists, advises Mary Ellen Conway, president of Capital Healthcare Group in Bethesda, MD.

Discussing Appendix B of the quality standards, Bastinelli noted that she has received questions on the need to make available a rehabilitative technology specialist.

Shifting standards: In addressing the question, "Do they have to be on site?" Bastinelli responded "Yes, trained rehab technology technicians have to be there, on site, absolutely. We will clarify that in the next standards."

That could be bad news for some suppliers. "That almost makes it sound like you need to have one full-time person on staff," worries Conway.

The issue of whether suppliers need specialists on staff or on site is indeed causing some confusion, Eric Sokol of the Power Mobility Coalition tells Eli.

"Requiring all sites to have a specialist will have an impact on small suppliers," says Sokol--especially those in rural areas where finding qualified specialists could be problematic.

CMS will refine the current version of standards, dated Aug. 14, 2006, through the rulemaking process, Bastinelli noted early in the call.

Replay: A recording of the conference call is available until Jan. 29 by calling 1-800-642-1687 and entering code 25607950.