In 2009, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services formally initiated a bond requirement for medical suppliers to Medicare and/or Medicaid patients.
The bond requirement was formed in the wake of instances of many millions of dollars having been wrongly paid by the federal government for fraudulent claims committed by a few unscrupulous medical providers.
DMEPOS is an acronym for durable, medical, equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and suppliers.
This is a federally mandated program whose requirements encompass all 50 states; it is not unique to Washington state alone.
The $50,000 surety bond required for DMEPOS is a floor; that is, this is the minimum surety bond amount required.
A supplier with 5 NPI’s National Provider Identifers, for instance, would be required to obtain a $250,000 surety bond for all locations.
The bond, therefore, is in increments of $50,000.
Physicians who, in the course of their profession, provide Medicare or Medicaid equipment to their patients; government-owned entities; and businesses which manufacture prosthetics or orthotics, are exempt from these surety bond requirements.
A surety bond is a guarantee required to participate in DMEPOS. It is not, therefore, an insurance policy which protects the medical supplier.
Correctly understood, in the wake of heavily fraudulent medical supplier activity in the early 2000’s this bond is a protection against willfully criminal actions and acts of malfeasance or fraud, committed by a medical supplier in the performance of their duties.
Like all surety bonds, then the 3-parties to the Washington DMEPOS bond are as follows:
The principal in this instance is the medical supplier who is required to purchase the surety bond in order to participate in the DMEPOS program.
The obligee is the entity which is requiring the surety bond and on whose behalf the surety bond is being issued. With reference to DMEPOS, the obligee is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The surety is the company which financially guarantees the performance of the bond, which has been purchased by the principal to satisfy the requirements of the obligee.
AmeriPro Surety Bonds is agent for the surety.
Applicants --- or principals --- should bear in mind that any claims paid on a DMEPOS bond are their responsibility to fully reimburse to the surety company. This includes any attorney fees, costs, and any interest.
The two main factors which will determine the cost of your Washington DMEPOS bond will be:
The amount of the bond itself (i.e. $50,000 or $100,000);
And
The applicant’s credit score. AmeriPro Surety Bonds uses a soft-inquiry which will not adversely affect your
Regardless of your credit score, our agency will work with you to obtain the best pricing available.
In the interests of honesty and full disclosure, however, please be aware that applicants with challenged credit may pay a substantially greater premium for this bond; however we will always work to find the lowest premium pricing available.
AmeriPro Surety Bonds is a surety bond-only agency which provides Washington license and permit, court, contractor, and fiduciary bonds throughout the great state of Washington.
We also provide surety bonds in all 50 states.
Please choose AmeriPro Surety Bonds for your Washington DMEPOS bond today: