Accreditation Alphabet

All of the accreditation deadlines for the DMEPOS community will now occur within the next year. But it's been hard to keep up with the announcements from CMS, and often the deadline information has been confusing. It's time to review all things accreditation from A to Z.

A is not just for accreditation but for accomplishment. Accreditation is a badge of honor that you can display proudly to your customers and referral sources, even though CMS has now made it a requirement. There will be providers who do not become accredited and who will not be in business in the coming years.

This is an accomplishment you should advertise and include in all of your communications with the public.

B is for being accredited before you obtain a new Medicare supplier number from the National Supplier Clearinghouse.

Since March 1, in order to get a new supplier number, a supplier with fewer than 25 locations must first be accredited. This can present a challenge for those opening a new business.

It is also a consideration for those existing businesses that are not yet accredited (with under 25 locations) that are acquiring or opening a new location. Once a supplier is accredited, the accreditation is extended to a new location, but in the meantime, the supplier must go through the accreditation process before obtaining its supplier number.

C is obviously for CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But CMS is not your only payer. Even though CMS is requiring suppliers to become accredited, there are many other payers that are and will be requiring accreditation as well, including managed care organizations and several state Medicaid programs.

CMS has published the Final Quality Standards (although revisions are due out any time) that companies must review and become comfortable with. The standards can be found at: www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/Downloads/DMEPOSAccreditationStandards.pdf.

D is for critical deadlines: today, Jan. 31, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2009, and we'll get to those later. “D” is also for documentation. In this business, if it wasn't documented, it wasn't done. Ensure that you and your staff document everything, and make certain you also have documentation verifying all of the items received by the customer (see the sample “Verification of Receipt of Paperwork” on page 118).