On Feb. 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a notice announcing a nationwide, six-month moratorium on the enrollment of new durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers in Medicare. The moratorium, effective immediately, is intended to help prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in federal health care programs. Existing enrolled suppliers are not affected and may continue providing services and billing Medicare as usual.
This moratorium may have operational implications for sleep medicine practices that rely on DMEPOS suppliers to provide positive airway pressure (PAP) devices, masks, and related supplies:
- Sleep centers or physician practices planning to establish new DMEPOS entities may need to delay those plans until the moratorium is lifted.
- In areas with limited DMEPOS coverage, the inability of new suppliers to enroll in Medicare could reduce competition and slow the entry of new equipment providers, limiting access to care in underserved areas.
- Practices pursuing integrated care models that include DMEPOS services may experience delays in implementation if they require new Medicare supplier enrollment.
The AASM urges sleep medicine practices and facilities to anticipate possible delays if planning to launch new DMEPOS services. AASM health policy staff will continue to monitor CMS announcements and will provide updates if the moratorium is extended or modified.
Questions about this moratorium may be sent to coding@aasm.org.
