Home medical equipment (HME) providers preparing for reaccreditation have stated that CMS' move to an annual accreditation requirement will increase their administrative burden without providing a benefit.
What’s up with the new accreditation cycle?
CMS declared an annual accreditation requirement as part of its final rule on the competitive bidding program starting Jan. 1, 2026 - a significant shift from the previous three-year requirement. CMS will honor current multi-year accreditation cycles until they expire.
Ultimately, providers believe this change will increase costs without improving integrity.
Craig Rae, president of Penrod Medical Equipment in Salisbury, N.C. stated: “We’re getting ready for it, but it is time consuming and costly. It adds no value whatsoever and does nothing to address waste, fraud and abuse.”
Many believe the annual accreditation is akin to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater;” an umbrella requirement doesn’t take into account DMEs/ HMEs who have proven to do things correctly.
Other providers take issue with the complexity of accreditation process, new frequency requirements aside. According to HME News, “When CMS overhauled the accreditation process, the agency reinforced mandatory, 100% compliance with all standards at the time of the onsite survey.”
What can DMEs/ HMEs do in light of the new accreditation cycle?
Despite the frustrations associated with increasing complex and frequent compliance requirements, most DMEs/ HMEs must acknowledge the necessary evil. Compliance is of major importance.
So, what can providers do to negate some of the financial burden caused by annual accreditation?
START HERE: take stock of your current workflows and uncover the inefficiencies. If this sounds daunting, we get it. But it is worth it. Identifying inefficiencies is the first step to managing increasing administrative burdens.
HOW?
Most DMEs/ HMEs do not have the capacity to continually increase staff in proportion to increasing demand. Thus, providers who want to thrive in the current environment must be able to DO more with their SAME team.
Enter high-impact automation.
High-impact DME automation targets specific workflow inefficiencies and creates efficient, accurate, streamlined processes, freeing staff to tackle technical, highly important issues as they arise.
Mundane, manual labor in the DME/ HME workflow suffocates efficiency and even - gasp - scalability. Interested in learning more? Start here!
