DME Scammer Prevention Act of 2026

Key Points

• Starting January 1, 2027, companies that supply medical equipment and supplies to Medicare patients must submit their claims electronically. Paper claims will no longer be accepted for items on a specific master list.
• Suppliers of certain medical equipment will have just 90 days to submit a claim after providing the item, down from the current window of up to one year. This shorter deadline is designed to make it harder for scammers to file fake or inflated claims long after equipment was supposedly delivered.
• Items already subject to face-to-face encounter requirements, prior authorization, or monthly rental payments are excluded from the 90-day deadline, since those items already have stronger fraud safeguards in place.
• By January 1, 2030, the Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on how well the new screening technology used by Medicare contractors is catching errors, waste, fraud, and abuse, including how many claims were denied and how many denials were later overturned.