BALTIMORE--CMS closed registration for the first round of Medicare DMEPOS bidding on Saturday and announced that it will hold a special 30-minute bidders conference July 9 "to address issues associated with the bidding process."

The agency had originally scheduled the registration deadline for June 30, with the close of bidding to follow on July 13. But after strong industry protests, CMS granted an extension for registration along with a one-week extension for submission of bids, which are now due by 9 p.m. ET on July 20.

Since the bid window opened May 15, stakeholders have complained that problems with the online bidding system have been persistent. One provider told officials in a recent teleconference he had spent two days trying to enter information into the system unsuccessfully because it kept crashing. (See HomeCare Monday, June 25.)

During the special conference call, CMS said it will discuss measures to expedite the overall bidding process and to manage data entered into the system. In the meantime, a Friday afternoon notice about the call offered information addressing some of the bidding system's time parameters:

--Bidders should be aware that the Competitive Bidding Submission System (CBSS) automatically logs users out of the system after two hours due to a systems security setting built into the bidding process.

--Suppliers should track their time while in the CBSS system. After being in the system for approximately an hour and 45 minutes, suppliers should save their data and log off the system entirely. After completely exiting the system, the supplier can go back and begin another session on the application. Citing "severe technical problems with bid submissions" among other reasons, the American Association for Homecare requested an extension of the bidding deadlines from CMS and has begun an effort directed at members of Congress to delay implementation of the program. (See HomeCare Monday, July 2.)

But for now, "providers are stuck with that clock that is ticking," said Don Clayback, senior vice president of networks for The Med Group, "and the frustration that people are feeling is not 'Gee, I'm having kind of a rough day here,' it's 'This is my business and my employees' lives and livehhoods that are at stake.' And yet, they are having to work within a government program that is making it much harder than it has to be.

"I'd like to be optimistic that [CMS] will take a look at making some adjustments," Clayback said, "but what we've seen over the last 60 days is not an openness to change things, even when we run into some obvious problems."

To participate in CMS' July 9 teleconference, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, call (877) 356-8073 and use passcode 6553095.

To read the notice in full, go to www.dmecompetitivebid.com.