BALTIMORE--In a frustrating exchange during CMS' DME, Home Health and Hospice Open Door Forum Wednesday, caller Mike Marnhout, president and CEO of Lexington, Ky.-based Bluegrass Oxygen, asked if the agency could name the 10 metropolitan statistical areas in which competitive bidding will begin.

While an official responded that CMS hopes to release the cities it has selected "as soon as possible," he also said he could not release the locations before the final competitive bidding rule is issued--and it is still unclear when that will happen.

"This is just ludicrous," Marnhout told HomeCare Monday after the call. "You can't budget for what you need to do for next year, you can't do anything about your game plan. You don't even know what product lines are going to be included."

Marnhout's company has a location in Cincinnati, one of the final 25 cities on CMS' hot list for where the bidding program will roll out. "It's going to be dog-eat-dog in those 10 MSAs," he continued. "As a businessperson, what are you supposed to do?"

The industry's providers have also been waiting for months on information about which accreditors will gain "deeming authority" from CMS to enforce Medicare's new supplier quality standards, a requirement for those who wish to participate in competitive bidding.

After an Oct. 2 deadline when accrediting organizations were required to turn in their applications, the agency said it would issue a final decision within 30 days. But late on Nov. 3, the organizations were notified that the agency was two weeks behind schedule.

At the Open Door session, CMS' Sandra Bastenelli said she also was hopeful this information would be released "soon. I'm hoping by this same time next Wednesday (this week) we'll have that released to you."

Because of uncertainty about which organizations will be approved, many suppliers have been waiting to begin the accreditation process. A recent HomeCare survey showed 54 percent of unaccredited providers said they were putting off their applications until the CMS decision.

CMS said earlier that it expected to include at least seven accrediting bodies, but one industry source said the agency has approved 10 DMEPOS accreditors. However, Bastenelli said, "Just because they are approved to accredit, they are not approved to accredit you for every single thing--every supply and every prosthetic and orthotic."

When the list of accreditors is issued, Bastinelli said, it will be posted at www.cms.hhs.gov/competitiveacqfordmepos.

Also at the Open Door session:

• An agency representative announced that CMS has not received many applications for National Provider Identifiers from DME companies. He reminded callers that all health care providers must have an NPI by May 23, 2007, and noted that for DME providers, each location must have its own NPI. More information is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalprovidentstand.

• The agency announced that revised CMN forms, which went into effect in August, are available at www.cms.hhs.gov/CMSForms/CMSForms/list.asp#TopOfPage.

The next Open Door Forum is scheduled for Dec. 20.