Accreditation Needs Push, CMS Says

BALTIMORE--During an Open Door Forum on Wednesday, CMS' Sandra Bastinelli once again issued a warning to HME providers: Get on the ball to get accredited--or get left behind.

Those hoping to bid in round two of competitive bidding need to contact an accrediting body and get the process in motion, she said.

"They are not besieged with new applications, which is not a good sign," Bastinelli said of the accrediting agencies. "You don't need to wait for any deadline announcement [to get the ball rolling]."

And with round two fast approaching, accreditation experts are also encouraging providers not to wait.

"Since they released the drop-dead date, we definitely have seen an increase [in providers applying for accreditation]. That's across the board. And they're coming in from across the country," said Sandra Canally, president of The Compliance Team, one of CMS' 10 approved accrediting bodies. "But that being said, [the volume of applications] is nowhere near where it needs to be now that the 70 MSAs have been announced."

Providers who continue to wait, according to Canally, run the risk of long lead times that could translate into missing CMS' deadline for round two bidders, or even its mandatory accreditation deadline for all providers in September 2009. Canally estimates that nearly 100,000 providers will need to be accredited, and if they all wait until the last minute, "it'll be like trying to put 50 pounds of flour in a 10-pound bag."

But some are holding out hopes for the next few months.

Consultant Mary Ellen Conway, president of Capital Healthcare Group of Bethesda, Md., said CMS may be speaking too soon. "It takes a provider four to six months to become accredited. So if it takes them four to six months, I don't know why [CMS] thinks a month [after the drop-dead date was announced] there would be this deluge. It takes two or three months for those applications to get processed. I expect to see the deluge this spring."

Tom Cesar, president of the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, agreed, and said ACHC has seen a measurable increase since the deadline announcement. According to Cesar, January was the largest selling month for the organization's manuals--more than 100 were sold--and last month also saw 47 companies apply for accreditation. Thus far in February, Cesar said ACHC has already sold more than 70 manuals.