HME Business

CMS has announced it plans to re-compete the supplier contracts awarded in the Round One re-bid of its national competitive bidding program. CMS is required by law to re-compete contracts under the DMEPOS bid program at least once every three years, and the Round One re-bid contract period for all product categories except mail-order diabetic supplies expires on Dec 31, 2013. 

CMS will conduct the Round One re-compete in the same competitive bidding areas (CBAs) as the Round One re-bid. Of particular note are the categories, some of which appear to be expanded from Round One:

• Respiratory equipment and related supplies and accessories, including oxygen, oxygen equipment, and supplies; continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, respiratory assist devices (RADs), and related supplies and accessories; and standard nebulizers.

• Standard mobility equipment and related accessories, including walkers, standard power and manual wheelchairs, scooters, and related accessories.

• General home equipment and related supplies and accessories, including hospital beds and related accessories, group 1 and 2 support surfaces, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices, commode chairs, patient lifts, and seat lifts.

• Enteral nutrients, equipment and supplies.

• Negative pressure wound therapy pumps and related supplies and accessories.

• External infusion pumps and supplies.

"AAHomecare is concerned about the expanded scope and categories of items subject to bidding in the re-compete," read a public statement from the American Association for Homecare. "We are evaluating the new information and will provide additional analysis"

CMS has announced the following timeline for the re-compete: 



• Spring 2012
— CMS begins pre-bidding supplier awareness program.

• Summer 2012
— CMS announces bidding schedule; CMS begins bidder education program; Bidder registration period to obtain user ID and password begins.

• Fall 2012
— Bidding begins.

CMS and the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) also advised providers that will be re-compete to address several items:

Update contact information. The contact information in a provider's enrollment file at the National Supplier Clearinghouse (NSC) must be up-to-date before it registers to bid. If a provider's file is not current, it may experience delays and/or be unable to register and bid. DMEPOS suppliers should review and update the name, Social Security number, and date of birth for all authorized official(s) (if a provider has only one authorized official listed on its enrollment file, it should consider adding one or more authorized officials to help with registration and bidding); and the correspondence address.

DMEPOS suppliers can update their enrollment file via the internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) or by using the Jul 11, 2011 version of the CMS-855S enrollment form.
 Suppliers not currently using PECOS can learn more about this system by accessing the Internet-based PECOS page on the CMS website or reviewing the PECOS fact sheet. Information and instructions on how to submit a change of information via the hardcopy CMS-855S enrollment form may
be found on the NSC website.


Get licensed. Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses at the time of bidding. Therefore, if a provider is bidding for a product category in a CBA, it must ensure that all required state licenses for that product category are either on file with the NSC or RECEIVED by the NSC by close of bidding. 

Every location must be licensed in each state in which it provides services. If a provider has only one location and is bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, it must have all required licenses for every state in that CBA. If it has more than one location and are bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, it must have all required licenses for the product category for every state in that CBA. Providers should make sure that current versions of all required licenses are with the NSC BEFORE they bid. If any required licenses are expired or missing from their enrollment file, their bid(s) may be rejected.


Get accredited. Suppliers must be accredited for all items in a product category in order to submit a bid for that product category. If a provider is interested in bidding for a product category and is not currently accredited for that product category, it must take action now to get accredited for that product category. The provider's accreditation organization will need to report any accreditation updates to the NSC. CMS cannot contract with suppliers who are not accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization. 



More information about the DMEPOS accreditation requirements, including a list of the accreditation organizations and those who are exempt from accreditation, may be found on the DMEPOS Accreditation page on the CMS website. 

Visit the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding page on the CMS website for more information about the DMEPOS competitive bidding program.