More NCB info in March?
By HME News Staff
Updated Wed January 31, 2007
WASHINGTON - A timetable published in the Federal Register Dec. 11 indicates that CMS may not release its final rule on national competitive bidding until March.
At press time in early January, however, industry sources still believed the agency would release the rule before then.
"CMS has indicated that (the March release) is a possibility, but they're working as hard as they can to get it out sooner rather than later," said Seth Johnson, vice president of government affairs for Pride Mobility. "It's pretty much done; they're just working through the clearance process."
CMS has indicated that it plans to kick off competitive bidding in October. If it doesn't release its final rule until March, however, that goal might not be realistic because the agency needs to allow itself 40 weeks between releasing the request for bids and implementating the program, sources said.
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