Home Health & Hospice Week

Stay tuned for bidding final rule.

Suppliers are one step closer to the new world of competitive bidding.

On Nov. 22, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services unveiled the 11 accrediting organizations that will furnish providers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies with the accreditation that will be required for Medicare participation.

"Today's announcement represents the next step in CMS' effort to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to high quality items of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, and orthotics at the right price, and that they receive high quality service from the suppliers of these items," acting CMS administrator Leslie Norwalk says in a prepared statement.

Stay Tuned For Details

Though the accrediting organizations are ready to move ahead, suppliers are still waiting to hear the details of CMS' plan to implement competitive bidding (a.k.a. competitive acquisition) and the new quality standards.

Next step: CMS says it will publish its final rule regarding the program by year's end, including details on particulars necessary for implementing the quality standards. But even though there's no final rule, you may need to act quickly, reminds Maryanne Popovich of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, one of the accrediting organizations selected.

If you provide a product that's included in competitive bidding and you operate in one of the 10 metropolitan areas selected to roll out the program, you'll need to be accredited next year, possibly before you can even submit a Medicare bid.

Experts predict that all DME suppliers serving Medicare beneficiaries will need to be accredited for quality standards by the end of 2010, when bidding is slated to be fully implemented.

The organizations will give accreditation priority to suppliers that are competing in CMS' first phase of competitive bidding, confirms CMS' Alisa Overgaard. But that doesn't mean only organizations in the first phase of competitive bidding should seek accreditation, she says.

Understand Accrediting Options

CMS now recognizes the following organizations as authorized to accredit DMEPOS suppliers:

• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Contact: Patricia Kurtz. www.jointcommission.org.
• National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Contact: Carmen A. Catizone. www.nabp.net.
• Board of Orthotist/Prosthetist Certification. Contacts: Jim Newberry or Trisha Tatam. www.bocusa.org.
• The Compliance Team Inc. Contact: Sandra Canally. www.exemplaryprovider.com.
• American Board for Certification in Orthotics & Prosthetics Inc. Contact: D. Scott Willamson, Jr. www.abcop.org.
• The National Board of Accreditation for Orthotic Suppliers. Contact: Chris Blake. www.nbaos.org.
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabiltation Facilities. Contact: Chris MacDonell. www.carf.org.
• Community Health Accreditation Program. Contact: Terry Duncombe. www.chapinc.org.
• The Board for Certification in Pedorthics. Contact: Michelle Kimbrough. E-mail: info@cpeds.org.
• HealthCare Quality Association on Accreditation. Contact: Mary Nicholas. www.hqaa.org.
• Accreditation Commission for Health Care Inc. Contact: Sherry Hedrick. www.achc.org.

Most of the accreditation organizations are authorized to accredit all major supplier types, and most will be able to accredit both national and local suppliers, as well as mail order companies.

Caveat: But suppliers must shop carefully, especially if you are seeking accreditation for the first time. Not all of the organizations have the authority to offer CMS-sanctioned accreditation for all products, confirms Overgaard.

Note: The list of the accrediting organizations is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/competitiveacqfordmepos/downloads/DMEPOS_Accreditation_Organizations.pdf. For general updates on competitive bidding, go to www.cms.hhs.gov/competitiveacqfordmepos.