Home Health & Hospice Week

Interested suppliers don't have much time.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants you to get accredited for competitive bidding by May, even if you're not sure bidding is affecting your area.

CMS has yet to release the ZIP codes in-cluded in the 70 competitive bidding areas (CBAs) where bidding's second round will take effect. But the agency has set a May 14 deadline for accreditation for round-two participants.

"Suppliers must be accredited or have applied for accreditation by May 14, 2008 to submit a bid for the second round of competitive bidding," CMS says in an email to providers. "CMS cannot accept a bid from any supplier that is not accredited or that has not applied for accreditation by May 14."

CMS will bestow contracts only to suppliers who are already accredited. "The accreditation deadline for the second round of competitive bidding is October 31, 2008," CMS says. "Suppliers must be accredited before this date to be awarded a contract."

The agency once again urges suppliers to get accredited right away. "Suppliers should apply for accreditation immediately to allow adequate time to process their applications," the email instructs.

CMS expects round two bidding prices to take effect in summer 2009.

More bidding information is at www.cms.hhs.gov/CompetitiveAcqforDMEPOS. A list of the 70 bidding areas is in Eli's HCW, Vol. XVII, No. 2.

HHAs must care too: Even if you're not a DME supplier, bidding still affects you. Home health agencies and hospices that contract with suppliers for bid items for their patients may have to switch suppliers once bidding takes effect.

• MedPAC's March report to Congress wasn't all bad news for home care. The influential advisory body also pointed out that Medicare Advantage payment rates are on average 13 percent higher than traditional fee-for-service Medicare, MedPAC Chair Glenn Hackbarth pointed out in March 11 testimony before the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee.

MedPAC recommends paying MA plans the same rate Medicare spends on FFS patients. MedPAC's MA criticism could fuel legislators' efforts to raise funds from MA plan rates, rather than home care rates, to pay for the physician payment fix, observers hope.

• CMS has revamped the home health prospective payment system pricer and posted the updated version at www.cms.hhs.gov/PCPricer/05_HH.asp. The revision takes into account changes to the low utilization payment adjustment (LUPA) logic, CMS says in a message to providers.

Meanwhile, M0110 problems are still shortchanging HHAs, the Connecticut Association for Home Care & Hospice notes in its member news-letter. The Common Working File continues to not count 2007 episodes when figuring "early" or "later" episodes in sequencing (for more details, see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVII, No. 10).

"CMS is working on the problem," CAHC says. "It is not yet clear how CMS plans to identify and make corrections."

Providers "should assess all claims submitted during this time period to ensure that they are receiving correct payment," the trade group advises.

• Your chance to provide feedback on your Medicare contractor is almost over. If you were one of the providers selected to participate in the Third Annual Medicare Contractor Provider Satisfaction Survey, you have until April to respond, CMS says in a new MLN Matters article.

Currently the average response rate is 32 percent, CMS says of the survey designed to take about 15 minutes to complete. "CMS' goal is to reach a 65 percent response rate," it says. More information is at www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/SE0804.pdf.

• CMS has published its final decision memo on CPAP coverage for obstructive sleep apnea and suppliers could benefit. The memo approves coverage of continuous positive airway pressure devices based on home sleep testing.

The memo may result in more business for suppliers furnishing CPAPs and home sleep testing equipment, industry observers predict.

CMS received more than 700 comments on its original coverage proposal in early 2007 and another 300 comments after its December re-proposal, the agency notes. The decision memo, comments and other materials are at https://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/viewnca.asp?nca_id=204&basket=.

• National Government Services' new provider statistical and reimbursement (PS&R) changes are no joke, even if they take effect on April Fool's Day. NGS is requiring new PS&R forms and procedures starting April 1.

"As of that date, we will no longer accept letters, e-mails, or old forms," NGS tells providers in a March 14 email. "Only the newly revised form ... will be accepted." Agencies can receive one report per year for cost reporting purposes at no charge. Anything more than that will cost $200 per year per report, NGS explains.

• If you don't do your own billing, beware National Provider Identifier problems. Some billing clearinghouses are stripping NPI information from claims, CMS warns in a recent message to providers.

"If your clearinghouse continues to strip your NPI from your claims for any reason, notify your Medicare Contractor immediately so that CMS can work with your clearinghouse to resolve the issue," CMS directs.

• Medical and eldercare policy groups are putting pressure on Congress to fund falls prevention programs. Twenty-two groups including the National Association for Home Care & Hospice are calling on Congress to spend $20 million on falls prevention under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About "1.8 million older adults were treated in emergency departments for injuries from falls, 433,000 were hospitalized, and nearly 16,000 died," the coalition says in a release. "CDC reports the mortality rate from falls among older Americans has increased 39 percent between 1999 and 2005."

According to the CDC, more than $19 billion annually is spent on treating the elderly for the adverse effects of falls, the coalition says.

• Arcadia Resources Inc. has sold its DME locations in Florida and Colorado to Aerocare Holdings for $7.7 million, the Indianapolis-based company says in a release. Arcadia retains 22 DME locations in other states that generate about $24 million in revenues, the company says.