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GEMCO Medical Competitive Bidding Watch
DMEPOS Competitive Bidding: Round 2 & National Mail Order Bidding (8-19-11)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced the next steps for the expansion of the Medicare
Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding program to include the
Round 2 and the national mail-order competitions.

ROUND 2 The Round 2 product categories are:
  • Oxygen, oxygen equipment, and supplies
  • Standard (Power and Manual) wheelchairs, scooters, and related accessories
  • Enteral nutrients, equipment, and supplies
  • Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices and Respiratory Assist Devices (RADs) and related supplies
    and accessories
  • Hospital beds and related accessories
  • Walkers and related accessories
  • Negative Pressure Wound Therapy pumps and related supplies and accessories
  • Support surfaces (Group 2 mattresses and overlays)

A list of the specific items in each product category is available on the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor
(CBIC) website, www.dmecompetitivebid.com; the specific ZIP codes in each Round 2 competitive bidding area (CBA)
are also available on the CBIC website.

NATIONAL MAIL-ORDER COMPETITION
CMS will also be conducting a national mail-order competition for diabetic testing supplies at the same time as the Round
2 competition. The national mail-order competition will include all parts of the United States, including the 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.
To ensure that suppliers have ample time to prepare for the competition, CMS has announced the following next
steps for the program:

Summer 2011
  • CMS begins pre-bidding supplier awareness program
Fall 2011
  • CMS announces bidding schedule
  • CMS begins bidder education program
  • Bidder registration period to obtain user ID and passwords begins
Winter 2012
  • Bidding begins
If you are a supplier interested in bidding, prepare now – don’t wait!
  • UPDATE 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. DMEPOS suppliers should review and update:
    • 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
    • The correspondence address.
DMEPOS suppliers can update their enrollment via the internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System
(PECOS) or by using the 7/11/2011 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 the following link: (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 Web site (www.palmettogba.com/nsc) and by following this path:
Supplier Enrollment/Change of Information/Change of Information Guide.
  • GET LICENSED: Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses at the time the bid
    is submitted. Therefore, before you submit a bid for a product category in a CBA, you 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 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. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you make sure that current versions of all required
    licenses are in your enrollment file with the NSC BEFORE you bid. If any required licenses are expired or missing
    from your enrollment file, we can reject your bid. Suppliers bidding in the national mail-order competition must
    have the applicable licenses for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam,
    and American Samoa.
  • GET ACCREDITED: Suppliers 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 by a CMS-approved accreditation organization.
Further information on the DMEPOS accreditation requirements along with a list of the accreditation organizations and those
professionals and other persons exempted from accreditation may be found at the CMS website: www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/01_Overview.asp .

Visit the CMS web site at www.cms.gov/DMEPOSCompetitiveBid for the latest information on the DMEPOS competitive
bidding program.

To view the Press Release, please click: www.cms.gov/apps/media/press_releases.asp
To view the Fact Sheet, please click: www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp

The Content of the GEMCO Medical Competitive Bidding Watch is for informational purposes only. This Content is not
intended to be a substitute for business research or planning, and reliance on any information contained herein is solely
at your own risk.
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