The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released its plans for the re-compete of supplier contracts awarded in Round Two of competitive bidding.
As already seen in Round One, CMS is required by law to re-compete contracts under the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program at least once every three years. Contracts for Round Two expire on June 30, 2016.
The rough, initial schedule outlined by CMS:
July 15, 2014 — CMS begins pre-bidding supplier awareness program.
Fall, 2014 —CMS announces bidding schedule; CMS begins bidder education program: and bidder registration period to obtain user ID and passwords begins.
Winter, 2015 —Bidding begins.
CMS says it is conducting the Round Two re-compete in the same geographic areas that were covered by Round Two’s 91 competitive bidding areas. However, per the another CMS announcement the Office of Management and Budget updated the original 91 Round Two metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), so that there are now 90 MSAs for the Round Two re-compete. The Round Two re-compete’s CBAs have nearly the same ZIP codes as Round Two’s original CBAs, but certain ZIP codes have changed and CMS has updated the CBAs to reflect the changes.
Also, CBAs that were located in multi-state MSAs have been re-defined so that no CBA is included in more than one state. A list of the ZIP codes included in each CBA is also available on the CBIC website.
Where categories are concerned, the Round Two re-compete will cover:
- Enteral nutrients, equipment and supplies.
- General home equipment and related supplies and accessories, which includes hospital beds and related accessories, group 1 and 2 support surfaces, commode chairs, patient lifts, and seat lifts.
- Nebulizers and related supplies.
- Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) pumps and related supplies and accessories.
- Respiratory equipment and related supplies and accessories, which includes oxygen, oxygen equipment, and supplies; continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices and respiratory assist devices (RADs) and related supplies and accessories.
- Standard mobility equipment and related accessories, which includes walkers, standard power and manual wheelchairs, scooters, and related accessories.
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices and supplies.
CMS will also be conducting the national mail-order re0compete for diabetic testing supplies at the same time as the Round Two re-compete . The national mail-order re-compete will include all parts of the United States, including the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.