Contact:
Lynn Gonzales
Media Relations
The SCOOTER Store
(830)626-4064
The SCOOTER Store President Mike Pfister’s Statement on CMS’ Final Rule on Accreditation Standards
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas, August 4, 2006
Mike Pfister
President of The SCOOTER Store
CMS Fails to Pull the Trigger on Implementing Accreditation and Quality Standards Requirements for DME Suppliers.
The SCOOTER Store expresses its appreciation for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recent release of a final rule on accreditation standards for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, and supplies (DMEPOS). However, we are disappointed that CMS has stopped short of finalizing the quality standards, naming the accrediting bodies and setting an implementation timeline for the accreditation process.
As the nation’s largest supplier of power mobility equipment, The SCOOTER Store management and all of our employee–owners take seriously our responsibility to provide qualified beneficiaries with the most appropriate mobility equipment, while treating beneficiaries with dignity and respect.? For this reason, we are both accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc (ACHC) and proactively adopted CMS’ proposed quality standards immediately after they were first published in January 2006. We believe that most suppliers are legitimate and anxiously awaiting the full implementation of accreditation and increased quality standards requirements. We believe compliance with these requirements should be a pre–requisite to participation in the Medicare program.
We do not understand CMS’ hesitation in swiftly moving forward with mandating specific accrediting bodies, standards, and implementation deadlines. We urge CMS to act now by immediately naming the accrediting organizations, prohibiting non–accredited suppliers from participating in competitive bidding, and setting a deadline for all providers to be accredited and compliant with the new quality standards by January 1, 2007.
It is time to stop talking and start insisting on higher standards.
About The SCOOTER Store
Since 1991, The SCOOTER Store has helped provide freedom and independence to more than 350,000 people with limited mobility. The SCOOTER Store offers a full line of durable medical equipment, including power wheelchairs and scooters, lifts, ramps and accessories in all 48 contiguous states plus Puerto Rico. The SCOOTER Store has worked with more than 110,000 physicians, providing expertise and quality service to their patients, and is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.
