DMEPOS Accreditation

CMS requires DMEPOS suppliers to be accredited by a CMS-approved accrediting organization as a condition of Medicare enrollment and billing. Because the approved organizations and their status can change, suppliers should use the current list maintained by CMS when comparing accreditors.

Accreditation includes an unannounced on-site survey of the supplier's operations, policies, and documentation against the accreditor's standards. Standards typically cover quality management, patient rights, infection control, complaint handling, delivery processes, and equipment management, including cleaning and maintenance records.

Failing an accreditation survey can result in corrective action or loss of accreditation, which can affect Medicare billing privileges. For most DME businesses, maintaining accreditation is essential to continued operation.

The documentation accreditors most frequently cite as deficient includes cleaning and reprocessing records for rental equipment, equipment delivery confirmation with serial numbers, and maintenance logs for high-risk items. These are exactly the records that a digital tracking system generates automatically.