Just in from CMS: The number of active DMEPOS providers has increased

I'm on the road again. Last week it was Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas; this week it's the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers (PAMS) at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pa., about 90 minutes outside Pittsburgh. It's been a great meeting (in a beautiful setting), but more on that in the next day or two.

Right now I want to pass on some data we received this week from CMS. About a month ago, HME News used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to request the "number of DMEPOS suppliers that were active as of January, February, March and April 2010."

This data supports industry reports that more and more providers who voluntarily gave up their supplier numbers last fall to get accredited have become accredited and are returning to the Medicare program. We suspected that was going to happen, but as you know, CMS dragged its feet reinstating providers. This data seems to support industry reports that the foot-dragging has ended. Why it ever occurred in the first place is beyond me, but that's CMS for you.

Without further ado, here's the data.

The number of active DMEPOS suppliers as of January 1, 2010:

Jurisdiction A: 20,368

Jurisdiction B: 19,907

Jurisdiction C: 35,754

Jurisdiction D: 21,135

Total: 97,164

The number of active DMEPOS suppliers as of as of April 1, 2010

Jurisdiction A: 20,596

Jurisdiction B: 20,313

Jurisdiction C: 36,139

Jurisdiction D: 21,654

Total: 98,675

Mike Moran