The Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (“DMEPOS”) Competitive Bidding Program Round 1 Recompete will begin later this year. Below is the schedule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has announced so far:
Summer 2012:
- CMS announces bidding schedule
- CMS begins bidder education program
- Bidder registration period to obtain user ID and password begins
Fall 2012:
- Bidding begins
If you are a DMEPOS supplier interested in bidding in the Round 1 Recompete, it is time to start preparing. You can prepare by:
- Updating Your Contact Information: The following contact information in your enrollment file at the National Supplier Clearinghouse (NSC) must be up-to-date before you register to bid. If your file is not current, you may experience delays and/or be unable to register and bid. If you want to bid, you will need to register even if you registered for a previous round. You should review and update: (1) The name, Social Security number, and date of birth for all authorized official(s) (if you have only one authorized official listed on your enrollment file, consider adding one or more authorized officials to help with registration and bidding); and (2) the correspondence address. You can update your enrollment file via the internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (“PECOS”) or by using the July 11, 2011 version of the CMS-855S enrollment form.
- Getting Licensed: Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses at the time of bidding. Therefore, if you are bidding for a product category in a competitive bidding area (“CBA”), you must ensure that all required state licenses for that product category are either on file with the NSC or received by the NSC by the close of bidding. Every location must be licensed in each state in which it provides services. If you have only one location and are bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, you must have all required licenses for every state in that CBA. If you have more than one location and are bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, your company must have all required licenses for the product category for every state in that CBA. Make sure that current versions of all required licenses are with the NSC before you bid. If any required licenses are expired or missing from your enrollment file, your bid(s) may be rejected.
- Getting Accredited: You must be accredited for all items in a product category in order to submit a bid for that product category. If you are interested in bidding for a product category and are not currently accredited for that product category, take action now to get accredited for that product category. Your accreditation organization will need to report any accreditation updates to the NSC. CMS cannot contract with suppliers that are not accredited for all items in the product category.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the foregoing or would like additional information, please contact your regular Hall Render attorney, or Todd Selby at tselby@wp.hallrender.com or 317.977.1440, or Kendra Conover at kconover@wp.hallrender.com or 317.977.1456
