Home Health & Hospice Week

If competitive bidding hasn't hit your area yet, watch for it to come soon.The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finally wrapped up the round 1 bid solicitation process. Suppliers who were missing documents in their bid had until Jan. 19 to submit them, noted CMS's Joel Kaiser in the Jan. 20 home health Open Door Forum. CMS won't reveal how many bids it received, Kaiser told a caller.

Timeline: Now CMS will begin evaluating the bids. The agency plans to announce the bid program payment rates and start contracting in June, Kaiser said. Then in September, CMS will announce the contract bidders and commence education for bidders, beneficiaries, non-contract suppliers, referring physicians, and other stakeholders.

CMS is already beginning to think about Round 2 of the program, which will increase the bid areas, Kaiser noted.

The bidding Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) will meet Feb. 23 in Baltimore to discuss the Round 1 rebid and Round 2, CMS says. Registration for the meeting is required.

Clarification: Under the bidding program, suppliers must accept assignment for claims under the bid program only, Kaiser explained in response to a caller question. You can choose not to accept assignment on non-bid claims.