Get Accredited

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that all suppliers must become accredited in order to remain a Medicare DMEPOS supplier.

Deadlines for accreditation are as follows:

• All existing Providers must be accredited by Sept. 30, 2009.
• New Providers who submit enrollment applications to the National Supplier Clearinghouse between January 1, 2008 and March 1, 2008, must be accredited by Jan. 1, 2009.
• New Providers who submit enrollment applications to the National Supplier Clearinghouse on or after March 1, 2008 must be accredited before they submit an application to the NSC.
• Providers that submitted bids in the first round of the Competitive Bidding program were to have been fully accredited by 10/31/2007.
• Providers that plan to submit bids in the second round of Competitive Bidding must be accredited or have applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008 (extended from the original deadline of May 14, 2008) in order to submit a bid for the second round of competitive bidding. CMS cannot accept a bid from any supplier that is not accredited or that has not applied for accreditation by July 21, 2008. 
  
• The accreditation deadline for the second round of competitive bidding is January 14, 2009 (extended from its original deadline of October 31, 2008). Suppliers must be accredited before this date to be awarded a contract. 

CMS has recognized 10 organizations that Providers can receive their accreditation through. A list of these organizations as well as contact information and web site addresses can be found at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CompetitiveAcqforDMEPOS/downloads/DMEPOS_Accreditation_Organizations.pdf

Failure to become accredited by the required deadlines will result in the suspension of any billing privileges from the Medicare program. Now is the time to look at accreditation. As the deadlines get closer, the workload at the accrediting agencies may increase to the point where they may be forced to set their own deadlines for accreditation.

If you have any questions or need assistance please contact a member of Pride’s Government Affairs Team at 1-800-800-8586.