CMS has altered the deadlines for providers to apply for and receive accreditation in order to submit bids for the second round of its national competitive bidding program.

Application deadline: CMS has extended the deadline for providers to apply for accreditation from its original May 14 deadline to July 21, and will not accept bids from providers who have missed the date.

Accreditation deadline: Providers must be accredited by Jan. 14, 2009 (extended from Oct. 31) in order to be awarded a contract.

CMS says it extended the deadlines because a “significant number” of suppliers in the 70 MSAs constituting round 2 “have not yet applied for accreditation. The agency warned that providers that didn’t meet the deadlines would not become competitive bidding suppliers and would not be able to bill Medicare for products covered under the program.

To determine if they fall under one of round 2’s 70 MSAs, providers should visit http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metrodef.html and look up
up their MSAs in the section called  “counties with metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area codes” (MSAs are referred to as CBSAs in the listing.)