The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced its timeline for the re-compete of Round Two of its competitive bidding program.
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 the previous bid of Round Two expire on June 30, 2016.
CMS initially released its rough plans for the re-compete of the supplier contracts awarded in Round Two of competitive bidding on July 15, 2014. CMS latest announcement provides a more detailed timeline:
Dec. 18, 2014 — Registration for user IDs and passwords begins.
Jan. 6 — Authorized Officials are strongly encouraged to register no later than this date.
Jan. 20 — Backup Authorized Officials are strongly encouraged to register no later than this date.
Jan. 22 — CMS opens 63-day bid window for Round Two re-compete and the national mail-order re-compete.
Feb. 17 — Registration closes.
Feb. 23 — Covered document review date for bidders to submit financial documents.
March 25 — 63-day bid window closes.
Winter 2016 — CMS announces single payment amounts, begins contracting process.
Spring 2016 — CMS announces contract suppliers, begins contract supplier education campaign.
Spring 2016 — CMS begins supplier, referral agent, and beneficiary education campaign.
July 1, 2016 — Implementation of Round Two re-compete and the national mail-order re-compete contracts and prices.
The agency took care in its announcement to stipulate that the dates in its timeline are target dates. Actual dates will be announced through listserv notice. Providers can register for those announcements at http://dmecompetitivebid.com/cbic/cbicregistration.nsf/Home.
CMS said 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 said its re-compete of its national mail-order contracts for diabetic testing supplies 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.