ACHC to Release New DMEPOS Standards in Feb 2011

Raleigh NC — The Accreditation Commission for HealthCare (ACHC), one of the “Deeming Authority” bodies accredited by Medicare to provide survey and accreditation to Medicare quality standards, will be releasing updated standards for DMEPOS providers in February 2011. The level of the changes are unknown at this point, so they may either have a minor — or major — impact on the currently-accredited systems in place amongst DMEPOS companies.

According to the official ACHC press release, the following points and dates are critical for all providers of DMEPOS that are currently accredited with ACHC, or planning on achieving accreditation (emphasis added by Oxebridge):

The 2011 changes include:

• Changes to the numbering of standards as well as grammatical changes.
• Rewording of Home Health and Hospice standards without intent changes.
• Inclusion of a few new and updated DMEPOS standards.
• An introduction to standards for the new Companion/Homemaker Service under the Private Duty Program.

Important Dates to Note:

• December 2010 – Notification on Customer Central
• February 1, 2011 – Updated accreditation standards released to providers.
• June 1, 2011 – All ACHC customers will be required to be in compliance with the updated standards.
• Annually on February 1st – Subsequent updates to the standards will be released.
• Annually on June 1st – All ACHC customers will be required to be in compliance with the updated standards.

Users of ACHC’s services are urged to monitor these dates carefully, and download the new DMEPOS standard as they become available. This will required updating of Policy Manuals to comply with the revised standards, to ensure all new or modified requirements are met.

For information on Oxebridge’s CMS Accreditation Preparation program for DMEPOS companies, visit www.cmsaccreditation.com.

For more information on ACHC, visit www.achc.org.