Get current on requirements

A. Within CMS's Aug. 19 announcement of Round 2 of competitive bidding, there are multiple references to 'get licensed' and 'get accredited' if you plan to submit a bid.

When they say: "Suppliers must be accredited for all items in a product category in order to submit a bid for that product category," what do they mean? Your business probably already is accredited so that you can bill Medicare, but you need to confirm that the detailed product list on page 10 of your NSC enrollment application and your accreditation application includes all the products within the category that you plan to bid upon. For instance, if you intend to bid on 'Standard (Power and Manual) Wheelchairs, Scooters and Related Accessories', both your accreditor and NSC application must have 'Wheelchairs - Standard Manual',  'Wheelchairs- Standard Manual Related Accessories', 'Wheelchairs- Standard Power', 'Wheelchairs- Standard Power Related Accessories', and 'Wheelchair Seating/Cushions' checked. There are 108 HCPCS codes in the standard (power and manual) wheelchair, scooters and accessories product category, and you've got to be prepared to provide ALL of these if you win this category bid.

Update your NSC enrollment form and/or notify your accreditor immediately if you discover lapses in either of these documents.

When they say: "Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses at the time the bid is submitted," what does that mean? Many of the competitive bidding areas encompass several states (such as Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD). If you want to bid on hospital beds for this area, you need to have Pennsylvania's DME supplier license and bedding and sterilization license, Maryland's HME license, Delaware and New Jersey's sales tax permits, and Delaware's business license. Here is a database to find out about applicable licenses and registrations for each state: www.palmettogba.com/palmetto/statelicensure.nsf.

Vianna Zimbel is president of Vianna Zimbel Consulting. Reach her at vzimbel@aol.com or 860-657-0530.