CMS breaks ground on NCB
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun May 9, 2004
May 10, 2004
WASHINGTON - CMS has begun assembling a team of employees who will oversee the creation of a national competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment.
“The first year isn't until 2007, but to do something as complicated as this we need to get started right away,” a CMS source told HME News last week.
Once assembled, the CMS team will address beneficiary access, system design, regulation development, provider education, establishing policies for payment and beneficiary outreach and education.
Staffers also are tossing around ideas on how to assemble a Program Advisory and Oversight Committee. This group will include people from outside CMS - providers and beneficiaries, for example - chosen to provide input on how to structure the bidding program.
In creating the program, CMS staff intends to study and learn everything it can from a report now being prepared on the competitive bidding demonstration projects in Polk County, Fla., and San Antonio, the CMS source said.
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