Preparations underway for Round 2 recompete

BALTIMORE - CMS late yesterday announced plans to recompete contracts for Round 2 of competitive bidding and the national mail-order program for diabetes supplies.

The agency says it has begun its pre-bidding supplier awareness program, and will announce the bidding schedule and education program this fall. Bidding is set to begin some time in the winter of 2015.

The original contracts for Round 2 are set to expire June 30, 2016.

CMS plans to include the following product categories in the recompete:

• Enteral nutrients, equipment and supplies

• General home equipment and related supplies and accessories (includes hospital beds and related accessories, Group 1 and 2 support surfaces, commode chairs, patient lifts and seat lifts)

• Nebulizers and related supplies

• Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) pumps and related supplies and accessories

• Respiratory equipment and related supplies and accessories (includes oxygen, oxygen equipment, and supplies; continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices and respiratory assist devices (RADs) and related supplies and accessories)

• Standard mobility equipment and related accessories (includes walkers, standard power and manual wheelchairs, and scooters)

• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices and supplies

CMS has shuffled around some products in the recompete, including walkers, now in the standard mobility category, and has added TENS devices, which was included in the Round 1 recompete but not the original Round 2. Not included: infusion pumps and supplies, which were part of the Round 1 recompete.

The agency plans to run the recompete in the same geographic areas, but due to Office of Management and Budget updates there will be 90 metropolitan statistiscal areas (MSAs) instead of 91. Another change: It has redefined the CBAs so that no CBA includes more than one state.

CMS will also recompete the contracts for the national mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

For more info on the recompete: http://www.dmecompetitivebid.com/palmetto/cbic.nsf/DocsCat/CBIC%20-%20Main~DMEPOS%20Competitive%20Bidding%20Round%202%20Recompete%20and%20National%20Mail-Order%20Recompete%20Announced?opendocument

To see a list of specific items in each category:

http://dmecompetitivebid.com/palmetto/cbicrd2recompete.nsf/DocsCat/Product%20Categories