It has been announced here today by the HHS about its proposal of the introduction of an innovative regulation that will work as a great benefactor in limiting the peril of the Medicare program. It has been asserted further, that the suppliers of hard-wearing medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) shall be required to furnish the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) with a surety bond. In addition, another notable responsibility of the new regulation would be the ensuring that the Medicare shall be able to recover the flawed payments amounting up to $65,000 resulting from deceptive or abusive supplier billing practices.

On this fresh announcement Herb Kuhn, the acting Deputy Administrator of the CMS, Herb Kuhn said, "A surety bond will not only limit Medicare's risk to fraudulent billing, but will also help to ensure that only legitimate DMEPOS suppliers are enrolled in the program."

In further note, the projected rule corresponds to another HHS step as an indispensable part of a continuing effort towards the goal of combating Medicare fraud with specific focus on DMEPOS suppliers.  It is to be noted in this respect that in the month of last May, HHS in conjunction with the Department of Justice were instrumental in the proclamation of the establishment of a multi-agency team of federal, state and local investigators that was fabricated in particular to wage a crusade against the surmounting Medicare fraud with the help of the utilization of the real-time analysis of Medicare billing.  On the other hand, the proposed surety bond requirement adhere to the prior announcements of two demonstration projects, one of them with the essential intention that DMEPOS suppliers both in South Florida and Southern California would go for a further petition to Medicare with the intention of sustaining their billing privileges.  While the other demonstration would require the home health agencies in the specific Houston area and Southern California to reapply.

It was on the last Friday, when the CMS published a notice stating its proposition of the extension of the bidding window for DMEPOS competitive bidding for a stipulated period of an additional 60 days.  However, it must be mentioned that this augmentation was specially designed for permitting the very suppliers with an additional time for the premiere consideration of their bid submissions in the 10 bidding areas, and also to possess the prospect of updating their proposals on the basis of this new proposal. While being asked to comment on the innovative decisions Kuhn said, "We wanted to make sure DMEPOS suppliers in the bidding areas had all the available information to them to make informed, yet competitive bids."