Florida has announced a temporary moratorium on new durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers for the state’s Medicaid program.
The March 26 announcement follows a Feb. 25 announcement from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of a six-month moratorium on new Medicare DME suppliers.
As with the joint HHS-CMS announcement, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration cited a crackdown on fraud as the reason for the moratorium.
“The Agency is continually looking at ways to strengthen fraud detection and prevention strategies, and over the last year, we have taken intentional enforcement action to hold providers accountable and safeguard taxpayer dollars,” said Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris. “This moratorium is just one example of the many efforts being put in place to curb fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicaid program and to ensure Medicaid recipients are able to receive care from high-quality providers.”
The new moratorium will be in place “for an initial six-month period,” with the Agency continuing to process DME supplier applications submitted on or before March 20.
Florida’s existing DME Medicaid suppliers aren’t impacted by the announcement.
“No Medicaid recipients will lose access to services needed from DME providers,” the announcement added. “Should any recipient have difficulty accessing services, they can contact the Florida Medicaid Helpline at 877-254-1055 for assistance.”
