BALTIMORE — On a regularly scheduled Open Door Forum this afternoon, CMS said it would delay release of the list of contract winners in the Round 1 rebid of competitive bidding. According to an agency timeline, names of the winners were to have been announced in September before implementation of the program in January 2011.
CMS' Michael Keane delivered the following announcement on the open call:
"We wanted to provide an update on all the current information we have at this time concerning the announcement of the final list of the contract suppliers. In testing a new program integrity tool on the list of potential competitive bidding suppliers, a number of red flags were raised that require further examination before CMS announces the final list.
"Given the past history of fraud in the DME arena, especially in Miami, CMS believes it is prudent to take the time to review these issues to ensure the program is best positioned to serve Medicare beneficiaries. We expect to move forward with the implementation of the program very soon, beginning with the announcement of the contract suppliers and continuing our aggressive education and outreach activities for beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
"Again, this is all the information we have to report on today, and we thank you."
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