The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) placed a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) companies.
“The DMEPOS supplier enrollment moratorium will allow CMS to explore additional safeguards to further mitigate longstanding instances of fraud, waste, and abuse perpetrated by certain DMEPOS companies. It applies to all applications for initial enrollment and changes in majority ownership for medical supply companies,” the announcement said.
CMS also plans to publish information on providers/suppliers whose participation in the Medicare program has been revoked, including their National Provider Identifier and the reason for the revocation. This additional transparency will allow patients and payers, including private insurers, to understand which providers have been subject to such administrative enforcement action by the government.
CMS is also seeking input about additional ways the agency can address fraud prevention to help inform the development of a possible future rule under CMS’ Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare (CRUSH) initiative. The Request for Information seeks input from a range of stakeholders—including states, providers, suppliers, payers, technology companies, patient advocates, beneficiaries, and others—about strengthening CMS’ ability to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud, waste, and abuse, and program inefficiencies in Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
For more information about the DMEPOS moratorium, visit the Federal Register.
To submit comments on the CRUSH Request for Information, due by March 20, visit the Federal Register and refer to CMS-6098-NC.
