Revised Accreditation Deadlines for DMEPOS Competitive Bidding

CMS Extends Accreditation Deadline for Round Two of Competitive Bidding

Because a large number of suppliers in the next 70 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) included in the second round of competitive bidding have not applied for accreditation, CMS is extending the accreditation deadline and urges all providers who serve the Medicare beneficiaries who live in the 70 MSAs to apply for accreditation immediately.

In order to participate in the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program, suppliers must meet quality standards and be accredited by a CMS-approved deemed accreditation organization. Suppliers who are interested in bidding in the second round of this program must be aware of changes to two key upcoming deadlines:

Suppliers must be accredited or have applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008 (change from May 14, 2008) to submit a bid for the second round of competitive bidding. CMS cannot accept a bid from any supplier who is not accredited or who has not applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008.
Suppliers will need to be accredited to be awarded a contract. The accreditation deadline for the second round of competitive bidding is January 14, 2009 (change from October 31, 2008). Suppliers must be accredited before this date to be awarded a contract. Suppliers should apply for accreditation immediately to allow adequate time to process their applications.

CMS has extended these deadlines because a significant number of suppliers in the 70 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) included in Round Two of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program have not yet applied for accreditation. Suppliers in these MSAs who do not meet these accreditation deadlines cannot become DMEPOS competitive bidding contract suppliers, and will therefore be unable to furnish competitively bid items to any beneficiary residing in any part of the competitive bidding area during the contract period.

Suppliers can determine if they are serving beneficiaries in a Round 2 MSA by visiting the following web site: http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metrodef.html and looking up their MSAs in the section called "counties with metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area codes." (In this file, MSAs are called CBSAs.) For example, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA is comprised of two counties: Los Angeles and Orange.

ACHC's Revised Accreditation Timeline for Round Two of Competitive Bidding

If you have Applied for Accreditation on or before May 14, 2008

Suppliers who have already submitted applications must follow the same rules under which they applied; therefore all PERs are due by 5:00pm ET June 30, 2008. All customers will receive a desk review if their PER is returned on time, which is a change from the original plan.
Suppliers who do not return their PER before 5:00pm ET June 30, 2008 will NOT be reported to CMS as "in process".
Suppliers WILL NOT be given the results of their survey until all fees are paid in full. Final deadline for all payments, regardless of survey dates, is November 28, 2008.

If you have Not Applied for Accreditation on or before May 14, 2008

Manual orders must be received by 2:00pm ET July 17, 2008 in order to ensure manual/application/PER will be delivered before the deadline.
New DMEPOS accreditation applications will be accepted until 5:00pm ET July 21, 2008. These applications must be FULL applications (complete application, $1,500 deposit and complete PER).
Suppliers who do not turn in a FULL application (complete application, $1,500 deposit and complete PER) before 5:00pm ET July 21, 2008 will NOT be reported to CMS as "in process".
Suppliers WILL NOT be given the results of their survey until all fees are paid in full. Final deadline for all payments, regardless of survey dates, is November 28, 2008.

ACHC staff will strictly adhere to these deadlines. Questions should be directed to the account manager assigned to your company or by calling 919-785-1214 and speaking with an Accreditation Department Representative.

ACHC = Potential $ Savings

A small HME provider recovered $20,773.80 using an ACHC Quality Improvement (QI) Standard.

Read the letter here to see the proof. Adobe Acrobat

Customer Satisfaction Results

ACHC has long had the reputation of providing outstanding Customer Service. Effective immediately we'll begin sharing our results with you. Our Customer Satisfaction ratings will be prominently displayed on our web site. These results are from our telephone surveys with companies who've recently gone through the accreditation process. We're proud of our results and look forward to showing you our ongoing commitment to providing world-class customer service. Click here to see the results.

Accreditation Checklist for Success

ACHC is pleased to announce that a new publication is now available to DME companies. The checklist includes practical questions about policies and procedures that will help providers understand and focus on what must be in the content of their policies and procedures. Sample interview questions and observations that are typically asked and looked at by the surveyor during the actual survey are included. It is designed as a workbook with ample space for comments and notes. The step-by-step guide helps the applicant walk through what is required for being accredited. This great tool can be used to conduct a company-wide mock survey.

Workbook ordering information.

Inc. Magazine 5,000 List

ACHC was selected to appear on Inc. Magazines list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies in America. Inc. proudly recognizes the importance of growing entrepreneurial companies that are changing with the business landscape. With the many challenges associated with building and operating a business, Inc. is keenly aware of what a tremendous achievement a spot on their list represents. For more than 25 years, Inc. Magazine has celebrated the remarkable achievements of today’s entrepreneurial men and women leading the 500 fastest-growing companies with the annual Inc. 500 list. This year, Inc.com presented the Inc. 5,000 – the first ever expansion of the Inc. 500 list. These new honorees were a part of the Annual Inc. 500 Conference and Awards Ceremony in Chicago. Tom Cesar, ACHC President said, “I am just thrilled at where we have come over these past years. We have a great team making these things happen”.

Paper or Paperless! It’s Your Choice!

ACHC recently celebrated the first anniversary of Customer Central; an innovative web site exclusively for ACHC customers. Customer Central was developed to enhance customer service by providing easy access to information needed throughout the accreditation process.

When a customer purchases an Accreditation Manual from ACHC, they are assigned a user name and password to the web site that gives them immediate access to ACHC standards, policies, Preliminary Evidence Report (PER) form and other information.

A major benefit of the website is the ability to download the PER. The PER is a document used for pre-survey review of an organization’s policies and procedures. Once an organization has completed the PER, the information can easily be submitted to ACHC on a CD or USB device. Since most organizations have their policies and procedures in some type of electronic format, it is an easy process to copy the information to a CD or a USB device and simply mail to ACHC. No longer does an organization need to struggle with copying volumes of documents nor do they have the expense of mailing a large package. ACHC encourages organizations to submit the PER in this format, however we still accept paper PERs from organizations with less than 20 locations. Paper or paperless: it’s your choice!