Competitive Bidding Registration Deadline August 27, 2007, USA - American Association for Homecare

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 25 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PST

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The registration deadline for competitive bidding is August 27, 2007. All bids are due by 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 25, 2007; and the accreditation deadline is October 31, 2007.

If you are having trouble submitting bids for the first round of the Medicare competitive bidding program, please contact AAHomecare. We believe that even one provider who is not able to submit a bid because of a bidding system problem is unacceptable; therefore we ask for help in documenting these issues so that we can report them directly to CMS and continue to monitor the situation.

Please contact Walt Gorski at waltg@aahomecare.org or Stacey Harms at staceyh@aahomecare.org with a detailed description of your problems. Specific detailed information about your problems and your contacts with the CBIC help line are critical.

CMS to Host a Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum

The next CMS Home Health, Hospice and DME open door forum is scheduled for August 29, 2007, at 2:00 PM, led by Carol Blackford, Martha Kuespert, Verlon Johnson, and Natalie Highsmith. Providers can call in using the following information:

Dial: 1-800-837-1935 & Reference Conference ID: 3650599

CMS, HHS Provide Plan to Combat Infusion Therapy Fraud

Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlined a plan to fight infusion therapy fraud including a two-year demonstration project focusing on preventing deceptive providers in South Florida. Going forward, providers will be required to reapply to be qualified Medicare infusion therapy providers. If reapplication does not occur within 30 days of receiving a notice from CMS, Medicare billing privileges will be revoked. The HHS and CMS offices expect only a 1-2% overlap in those applying for both infusion therapy and HME provider status, according to the CMS officials at the press conference.

CMS defines infusion providers as clinics or solo practitioners who provide intravenous infusion therapy and/or intramuscular and subcutaneous injections in the office setting. CMS claims that infusion providers shifting from infusion to other procedure codes to avoid detection and bypass administrative actions will also be included.

The announcement of the infusion therapy demonstration project follows similar demonstrations announced by HHS in the last two months, one targeting fraudulent billing by suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) in South Florida and Southern California, as well as one targeting home health agencies in the greater Los Angeles and Houston areas.

Additionally, Medicare Summary Notices will be sent to beneficiaries in South Florida on a monthly basis rather than quarterly, to encourage more frequent scrutiny of infusion provider billings. Other practices being used to combat fraud include frequent site visits, prepayment edits and automatic denial of clinically unbelievable dosages, payment suspensions, provider enrollment, onsite visits and other activities.

American Association for Homecare
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