The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) have announced updates to the bidding timeline for the Medicare Round 2028 DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. Bidder registration will begin on December 1, 2026, and the bid submission window will open on January 5, 2027, and will close on March 10, 2027.
The CBIC website, continues to be the official source for information on Medicare Competitive Bidding and has recently updated its Round 2028 fact sheets, the Request for Bids (RFB) Instructions, and timeline for the upcoming program.
The Medicare Round 2028 DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program will use a nationwide, Remote Item Delivery (RID) model to select a very limited number of contract suppliers. CMS has previously announced that it expects to award a total of three contracts for OTS spinal orthoses, four contracts for OTS knee orthoses, and five contracts for upper extremity OTS orthoses.
AOPA and its partners in the O&P Alliance have met with CMS on several occasions to express its concerns regarding beneficiary access issues that the RID program will create but, to date, CMS has not changed their position regarding the RID program. AOPA will continue to advocate for either a legislative or regulatory exemption for orthotists and prosthetists from participation in the competitive bidding program even as it continues to move forward.
Questions regarding this issue may be addressed to Joe McTernan at jmcternan@aopanet.org or Devon Bernard at dbernard@aopanet.org.