The Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program Round 2 and the national mail-order competitions are approaching.
In the fall, CMS will announce a bidding schedule, begin a bidder education program and open a bidder registration period to obtain a user ID and password. Bidding would then be set to begin in the winter, 2012. Suppliers are advised to prepare now.
Suppliers who are preparing for competitive bidding should update their contact information in the National Supplier Clearinghouse enrollment file. Suppliers without a current file may experience delays or be unable to register and bid. DMEPOS suppliers should review and update the name, Social Security number and date of birth for all authorized official(s) and the correspondence address. If there is only one authorized official listed on the enrollment file, consider adding one or more authorized officials to help with registration and bidding.
Suppliers can update their enrollment via the internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) or by using the July 11 version of the CMS-855S enrollment form. Suppliers not currently using PECOS can learn more about this system by accessing the PECOS website (www.cms.gov/MEDICAREPROVIDERSUPENROLL/) or reviewing the PECOS fact sheet at (www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/MedEnroll_PECOS_DMEPOS_FactSheet_ICN904283.pdf). Information and instructions on how to submit a change of information via the hardcopy CMS-855S enrollment form may be found on the NSC website (www.palmettogba.com/nsc).
Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses at the time the bid is submitted. Therefore, before a bid submission for a product category in a CBA, suppliers must have all required state licenses for that product category on file with the NSC. Every location must be licensed in each state in which it provides services. If there is only one location and the supplier is bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, they must have all required licenses for every state in that CBA.
If the supplier has more than one location and is bidding in a CBA that includes more than one state, the company must have all required licenses for the product category for every state in that CBA. It is important suppliers are aware that current versions of all required licenses are in your enrollment file with the NSC before the bid. If any required licenses are expired or missing from the enrollment file, the bid can be rejected. Suppliers bidding in the national mail-order competition must have the applicable licenses for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.
Suppliers must also be accredited for all items in a product category in order to submit a bid for that product category. If suppliers are interested in bidding for a product category and are not currently accredited for that product category, it is advised that those companies take action now to get accredited for that product category. Accredited organizations will need to report any accreditation updates to the NSC. CMS cannot contract with suppliers that are not accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization.
