Medicare Opens the 2006 Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP) to Physician Enrollment

Medicare opened the 2006 Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP) to physician enrollment. Physicians who want to participate have until June 2, 2006 to enroll in the program. The CAP offers an alternate method of purchasing some Part B drugs to the Average Sales Price (ASP) system.

There is only one CAP vendor for 2006. Pharmacy benefits manager BioScrip, Inc. contracted as a CAP vendor for three years. Additional vendors could be contracted at a later date; however, the bidding for contracts has closed and there is not another bidding period scheduled at this time. The claims administrator for the CAP is Noridian Administrative Services.

Under the CAP, participating physicians will obtain drugs through the vendor; the vendor will bill Medicare for the administered drug and bill the beneficiary for any applicable co-insurance or deductible. There are provisions for emergencies.

The first CAP “year” will run from July 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006. Enrollment forms are available on the Medicare Web site. Physician enrollment for 2007 will begin October 1, 2006 and end November 15, 2006.