Industry Notes:
Prepare For Bidding Grandfathering Headaches
Published on Tue Oct 13, 2009
Physician payment rule spells out requirements for suppliers. Even if you don't win a contract under competitive bidding, you can still furnish durable medical equipment or oxygen to your existing clients. So confirms the 2010 physician fee schedule final rule, scheduled for the Nov. 25 Federal Register. But the decision comes with extra headaches. Suppliers will have to notify in writing both their patients in the bidding area and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, if they wish to continue furnishing bid items as noncontract suppliers, CMS specifies in the rule. Fine print: But suppliers can't pick and choose which items or which patients to grandfather, CMS cautions. "Suppliers that agree to be a grandfathered supplier for an item must agree to be a grandfathered supplier for all current beneficiaries who request to continue to rent that item from them," the rule explains. And suppliers must furnish all items [...]
