The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may be
enforcing strict accreditation standards for O&P facilities,
but it failed a recent test of its own ability to detect fraud
among its durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and
supplies (DMEPOS) vendors. On July 3, 2008, the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report describing its own
successful undercover operation to create, and then convince CMS to
certify, two bogus DMEPOS companies.
