Legal
Snell & Wilmer Warns CMS DMEPOS Enforcement Tools Sweep Up Honest Suppliers
In a law firm commentary, Snell & Wilmer argues that CMS's escalating DMEPOS enforcement playbook, including payment suspensions and billing privilege revocations, while justified by real fraud, increasingly ensnares legitimate suppliers alongside bad actors. The piece cites CMS data showing 167 DMEPOS suppliers had payments suspended and 1,195 had billing privileges revoked in fiscal year 2025. The authors frame this as part of a broader "freeze, then gate" pattern in CMS program integrity strategy affecting Medicare, which also touches Medicaid-enrolled DME suppliers subject to similar scrutiny. The commentary calls for more calibrated enforcement that distinguishes fraud from administrative missteps.
Why it mattersDME suppliers serving Medicaid and dual-eligible beneficiaries face growing compliance risk from aggressive payment suspension and revocation tools that can disrupt operations before fraud is proven.