BALTIMORE--CMS said it had instructed the National Supplier Clearinghouse to begin its anti-fraud demonstration project on Nov. 1.

Announced in July, the demonstration will involve all South Florida DMEPOS suppliers in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and Southern California suppliers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. (See HomeCare Monday, July 9.)

The project's three major components were described in a notice about the demonstration as follows:

1. Immediate submission of CMS 855S application--Each DMEPOS supplier in the demonstration locales will be required to submit a CMS 855S Medicare enrollment application to the NSC within 30 days after the NSC requests such data.

The NSC will notify suppliers by letter to submit the CMS 855S. The letter will contain instructions and indicate a date by which the form must be received by the NSC. If the form is not received timely, the supplier's billing privileges will be revoked. No extensions will be granted. The NSC will begin mailing these letters on Oct. 31, 2007.

Note: In order to properly administer this project, please do not submit a CMS 855S reenrollment application until notified to do so by the NSC.

2. Revocation of billing privileges--Under this demonstration, a DMEPOS supplier's Medicare billing privileges will be revoked in the following circumstances:

--The DMEPOS supplier failed to submit a CMS 855S application within the aforementioned 30-day timeframe.
--The DMEPOS supplier failed to report a change in ownership or address at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the change.
--The DMEPOS supplier failed to obtain accreditation from an approved DMEPOS accrediting organization within 120 days of notification from the NSC to do so.

Note: Not every DMEPOS supplier will be required to obtain accreditation under this demonstration. Only those that are notified by the NSC to become accredited will be subject to that requirement.

--The DMEPOS supplier has an owner or managing employee that has had a felony conviction within the last 10 years.
--The DMEPOS supplier no longer meets each and every requirement necessary for enrollment as a DMEPOS supplier.
--If the supplier's billing privileges are revoked, CMS will implement recoupment measures as appropriate.

3. Enhanced review of "remaining" DMEPOS suppliers--DMEPOS suppliers that do not have their Medicare billing privileges revoked based on the information contained in the CMS 855S application they submitted will be subject to an enhanced review

This may include but is not limited to additional unannounced site visits and targeted claims reviews.

For more information about the demonstration project, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll and click on the "Enrollment Demonstrations" link on the left-hand side of the page.