CMS has announced an Aug. 19 Open Door Forum from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time to provide an overview of the program and details on registration. The Open Door Forum will be a conference call only, and will be the first in an eight-part series on the DMEPOS competitive bidding rpogram.

During the first call, CMS will provide an overview of what providers can expect during the bidder education period, as well as a step-by-step explanation of the registration process. In addition, CMS will highlight registration issues that were common during the first attempt at bidding round one, and discuss refinements to the bidding system.

To participate, call 1-800-837-1935 and reference conference ID 23038688. TTY communications relay services are available for the hearing impaired at 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880; a relay communications assistant will help.

A recording of the call will be posted for downloading on Aug. 27 to a website for the Special Open Door Forum at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/OpenDoorForums/05_ODF_SpecialODF.