WASHINGTON, D.C. – CMS’ timeline for a new round of the Competitive Bidding program with the addition of CGMs, insulin pumps, ostomy supplies, and urological products currently anticipates bidding to commence in “late Summer/early Fall 2026.” With that deadline in mind, AAHomecare is moving to develop advocacy plans and legislation to delay the inclusion of these products in the next bidding round.
Working with industry leaders, patient advocacy groups, and Congressional supporters, we are drafting legislation that would instruct CMS to delay moving forward on bidding these product categories to allow for additional study, including a pilot program in limited states, to assess potential patient and clinician impacts.
This approach has paid dividends in the past. Our working drafts for the bills are modeled after a successful legislative campaign in the 116th Congress to remove NIV from the bidding program. The 2019 legislation didn’t pass, but it did help pressure CMS to remove NIV from the bidding program in 2020. That bill (H.R. 4945) was introduced by Reps. Morgan Griffith (now EC Health Subcommittee Chair) and Peter Welch (former EC Health Subcommittee member and now a U.S. Senator) and was strongly supported by industry and consumer groups.
We are now working on firming up our draft legislation with potential lead sponsors in the House of Representatives and will look for a strong industry grassroots advocacy effort to build co-sponsor support for our legislation. It is going to take an exceptional, all-in direct lobbying and grassroots effort to move these measures, along with other priority DME priority legislation, forward in the 119th Congress – and AAHomecare is gearing up to lead the charge.
New FAQs and Summary on CB Round 2028 Available
CMS has released a new FAQ on the next CB program, including physician exemptions, additional product category details, and the Remote Item Delivery (RID) program – see the FAQ here.
Brown & Fortunato has developed a comprehensive, section-by-section summary of DMEPOS-related provisions in the 2026 DMEPOS/Home Health Final Rule – see the summary here.
AAHomecare has put together a new landing page on Competitive Bidding Round 2028 to collect news and reference materials like these related to the new round – with links to advocacy and bidding-education resources to be added as those components take shape.
