admin | 
01 8th, 2009| 
In reaction to the significant amount of medical equipment fraud in recent times, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just announced that it has taken back billing privileges of over 1,000 suppliers of medical equipment in two states: California and Florida.
Most affected suppliers were operating in Southern Cal and South Florida. CMS has also halted payments to a number of “home-health” agencies operating in and around Miami-Dade. Additionally, the CMS has mandated that some medical equipment suppliers must purchase/post “surety bonds” of $50,000 and up.
Existing suppliers must post the required surety bonds no later than Oct 2, 2009. New suppliers in the process of enrolling have until May 4, 2009 to post the bonds. It is said that CMS is requiring these surety bonds in order to lower the risk that Medicare must face as a result of fraudulent equipment suppliers.