As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the expiration of the six-month moratorium for new Medicare durable medical equipment (DME) supplier enrollment, current suppliers and other stakeholders are waiting to see what comes next.
CMS made the announcement on Aug. 27, six months to the day of the start of the moratorium.
“The National Provider Enrollment (NPE) Contractors are once again accepting initial enrollment applications from Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers,” the announcement noted.
But the announcement included accompanying information on Medicare’s competitive bidding Round 2028 plans — which suggested that the lifting of the moratorium is paving the way for competitive bidding to go forward as scheduled.
“If you are planning to bid in Round 2028 of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program (CBP), you should submit any completed enrollment applications as soon as possible to provide the Medicare Enrollment Contractors maximum time to process your application before the DMEPOS CBP Round 2028 bidding window opens,” the announcement noted.
The Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) has been ramping up its competitive bidding educational efforts, with five new FAQ articles published the day the supplier moratorium lifted. The new FAQ articles include “Are state and territory licensure requirements mandatory for all DMEPOS CBP suppliers?” and “What happens if I submit a bid without a required state or territory license?”
Several organizations have come out with statements supporting the lift, including AdvaMed.
“This is good news for medtech innovators and the patients they serve,” Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of AdvaMed, said in a statement. “We support CMS’s efforts to combat fraud, waste, and abuse and protect taxpayer dollars for the care patients truly need. We appreciate CMS’s work with us over the past six months to ensure that the policies going forward will effectively root out bad actors without decreasing Medicare beneficiaries’ access to the medical technologies and equipment they rely on.”
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