Just in from CMS: 14,078 HME providers quit billing Medicare between September 2009 and December 2009
By Mike Moran
Updated Fri January 29, 2010
Just in from CMS early this afternoon:
The number of active DMEPOS suppliers who bill Medicare dropped from 106,707 on Sept. 1, 2009 to 92,629 on Dec. 1, 2009. That's a 13.2% reduction, and most likely reflects the number of providers who gave up their supplier numbers rather than become accredited by Medicare's Sept. 30, 2009 deadline.
HME News solicited the data from CMS in early December via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Industry watchers surmised that thousands of providers would give up their supplier numbers rather than become accredited. This CMS data confirms that suspicion.
I think we can be reasonably confident that most of the newly inactive supplier numbers belonged to HMEs and not pharmacies. That's because pharmacies had until Jan. 1, 2010 to become accredited.
Here's the change in active DMEPOS supplier numbers by region between Sept. 1 2009 and Dec. 1, 2009:
Jurisdiction A: 22,318 to 19,275 (-13.6%)
Jurisdiction B: 21,791 to 19,077 (-12.5%)
Jurisdiction C: 39,094 to 34,038 (-12.9%)
Jurisdiction D: 23,504 to 20,239 (-13.9%).
Nationally: 106,797 to 92,629 (-13.2%)
Of these providers, here's the number that voluntarily terminated their numbers before the Sept. 30 deadline. Providers in this group most likely plan to reinstate their supplier numbers once they become accredited.
Jurisdiction A: 181
Jurisdiction A: 326
Jurisdiction A: 708
Jurisdiction A: 337
-- Mike Moran
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