Experts Say Round Two Deadlines Possible, but Start Accreditation Now

ATLANTA--Accrediting organizations are temporarily changing some procedures, ramping up training workshops and posting volumes of information on their Web sites in an attempt to help HME providers meet an Oct. 31 accreditation deadline for for round two of competitive bidding.

Earlier this month, CMS announced that suppliers who want to bid in round two must be accredited or have applied for accreditation by May 14. They must be accredited by Oct. 31 in order to be awarded a contract, the agency said.

“Oct. 31 is great. It’s reasonable for anyone who wants to bid,” said accreditation expert Mary Ellen Conway, president of Capital Healthcare Group in Bethesda, Md. “But they have to get started right now and plan to have their survey in July so they have August and September to make changes if needed.”

Accreditors echoed that advice.

“Sixty days is plenty of time to submit applications,” said Bob Floro, MSL, RRT, director of the home care accreditation program for the Joint Commission in Washington, D.C. “If folks take this seriously and start this accreditation process yesterday, then yes, the October deadline is realistic.”

But providers have to meet the May deadline before they can proceed, accreditors cautioned.

“If they don’t make the May 14 deadline, they are going to miss the boat,” said Tom Caesar, president of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Accreditation Commission for Health Care. “Because a week after that deadline, we [accreditors] have to give CMS reports on who has applied.”

Conway said meeting that May deadline could be tricky for some providers, depending on the accrediting body they choose. “Some of the organizations want your application only when you are ready to be accredited. With some, you just apply; with others, when you send in your application, it means that you are ready to be surveyed.”

That latter is the procedure at ACHC, Caesar said. “When you come to us with the application, you’re saying we can come to [survey] you next week,” he said.

Because of the tight deadline, however, ACHS has temporarily modified its policy to give providers more time. Those who apply by May 14 will have until June 30 to get themselves in shape for a survey.

“Then we have to get the surveys done five weeks before Oct. 31,” Caesar said.

At the American Board for Certification in Orthotics & Prosthetics in Alexandria, Va., time is also of the essence.