Home Health & Hospice Week

Accreditation, surety bonds also addressed in Open Door Forum. Suppliers hoping for a change of heart from the feds over competitive bidding shouldn't hold their breath. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has instituted a 60-day delay to the competitive bidding interim final rule to "allow department officials additional time to review issues related to this rule before the rule becomes effective,"CMS's Joel Kaiser allowed in the Feb. 18 Open Door Forum for home care and durable medical equipment suppliers. But after the rule's new effective date of April 18, suppliers can expect bidding to proceed without delay. CMS is going through a "transition process" while the new presidential administration comes in, Kaiser noted. But after that's done, CMS plans to issue the bidding timeline and other decisions expeditiously, Kaiser told an Ohio supplier who called into the forum. Federal law requires CMS to have competitive acquisition in 2009, [...]