Under the upcoming DMEPOS competitive bidding program, only suppliers who are successful bidders will be eligible to furnish certain categories of DMEPOS to Medicare beneficiaries in certain geographic areas (with very limited exceptions), and they will be paid based on the median of the winning suppliers’ bids for each of the selected items in the region, rather than the Medicare fee schedule or supplier bid amount. On July 2, 2010, CMS announced that payment amounts under the Round 1 rebid of the DMEPOS competitive bidding program will average 32% below the Medicare DMEPOS fee schedule amounts. The weighted average savings by product category available after the jump.

Round 1 rebid prices are effective January 1, 2011 in nine designated competitive bidding areas. Reed Smith has been reporting on developments associated with the DMEPOS competitive bidding program.