Choosing a DMEPOS Accrediting Organization

Every non-exempt DME supplier needs accreditation from an organization CMS has approved under 42 CFR 424.58, and it needs it before the CMS-855S can be processed. The choice of organization is the supplier's. CMS's advice is short: "For accreditation information, contact an AO directly" (MLN905710). It does not publish their prices or rank them. What it does publish is who is approved and for what, and that is where the decision starts.

Which organizations are on the CMS list?

The CMS list of DMEPOS accreditation organizations, updated January 9, 2026, names eight:

1. Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC), Cary, North Carolina
2. American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics (ABC), Alexandria, Virginia
3. Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP), Arlington, Virginia
4. Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation (HQAA), Waterloo, Iowa
5. The Joint Commission, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
6. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), Mount Prospect, Illinois
7. The Compliance Team (TCT), Spring House, Pennsylvania
8. Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC), Owings Mills, Maryland

We have no affiliation with any of them, and naming them here is not an endorsement.

How does approved scope narrow the choice?

CMS approves each organization for specific parts of the DMEPOS Quality Standards: Section I (business services), Section II (product-specific services), Appendix A (respiratory equipment, supplies and services), Appendix B (manual wheelchairs, power mobility devices and complex rehabilitative wheelchairs and assistive technology) and Appendix C (custom fabricated and custom fitted orthoses, prosthetic devices, external breast prostheses, therapeutic shoes and inserts, and custom-made somatic, ocular and facial prostheses).

Seven of the eight are listed for all of it. NABP is the exception: Sections I and II, Appendix A, and Appendix C only for external breast prostheses and therapeutic shoes and inserts. A pharmacy that supplies nebulizers and diabetic shoes fits within that scope; a supplier adding power wheelchairs or custom orthotics does not.

Scope matters because accreditation "must indicate the specific products and services for which the DMEPOS supplier is accredited" for payment (424.57(c)(22)(ii)). Map every product you intend to list on the 855S to an appendix before you choose. If you plan to add product lines within a year or two, choose an organization approved for them now; new lines require notice to your accreditor and a survey (424.57(c)(25)).

What is the caveat with BOC?

BOC appears on the January 9, 2026 CMS list, but its status has been contested. According to BOC's own announcement of January 13, 2026, CMS terminated its approved status on December 2, 2025; BOC sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (No. 1:25-cv-04150-MJM); and on January 9, 2026 the court granted a temporary restraining order, after which BOC says it was reinstated "until further notice." BOC states it may provide full accreditation and reaccreditation services in 46 states, and that "Restrictions announced in May 2025 continue to be in place for reaccreditation and new accreditation of suppliers in CA, FL, NY and TX."

A temporary restraining order is not a final ruling. We do not know of a later decision, and a supplier accredited by an organization whose approval is withdrawn has to move to another one. For a new supplier, especially one in California, Florida, New York or Texas, that uncertainty is a reason to look elsewhere unless BOC confirms your situation in writing.

What changed in 2026 for every accrediting organization?

The CY2026 home health final rule (CMS-1828-F, 90 FR 55342) rewrote 424.58 and tightened oversight. The parts that affect suppliers directly:

• Annual surveys. Every accredited supplier must be resurveyed and reaccredited at least once every 12 months (424.57(c)(24)). Ask each organization how it prices and schedules annual resurveys.
• Unannounced means unannounced. The regulation defines an unannounced survey as one "conducted without any prior notice of any type," scheduled so "DMEPOS suppliers cannot predict when they will be performed" (424.58(b)).
• Consulting limits. An accrediting organization, or its consulting arm, may not consult for a new supplier before its initial survey, or for a supplier it accredits within 6 months before its next reaccreditation survey, or in response to a complaint (424.58(m)). With surveys now annual, that leaves a narrow window in which an accreditor can advise its own customers.
• No surveys before a new location is open. Organizations must survey a new location before accrediting it, except for statistical sampling of chains with 25 or more locations, capped at 100 surveys a year according to CMS's accreditation guidance.

Which questions should you ask each accreditor?

• Are you approved for every product category I will bill, including ones I plan to add?
• What are the application, survey and annual fees, and what does a follow-up survey cost if I need one?
• What is your current lead time from a complete application to the survey window?
• How do you handle a plan of correction, and what are your deficiency levels?
• How many patient records will surveyors review? (The CMS Quality Standards set a minimum of 5 and bar mock files and simulated documentation.)
• For multi-location suppliers, how do you schedule surveys across sites?
• Will you accredit a location in each state I ship from, and do you verify state licenses at application?

Get the answers in writing. Prices and lead times are set by each organization and change; CMS does not publish them, and neither do we.

Does the accreditor coordinate with the enrollment contractor?

Partly. Accrediting organizations report accreditation information to the National Provider Enrollment contractors, and you also list it on the 855S. But CMS warns that "The NPECs and AOs are completely independent, so compliance with 1 entity doesn't guarantee compliance with the other" (MLN905710). Passing a survey does not satisfy the site visit, and vice versa.

How can an independent consultant help you choose?

Because we are not an accrediting organization, the consulting limits in 424.58(m) do not apply to us, and we have no stake in which organization you pick. Accreditation Readiness ($2,495, see pricing) starts with a product-to-appendix map, then builds the policy manual, files and mock survey for the organization you choose. You apply and are surveyed; we prepare you for it. See preparing for an unannounced survey and what the policy manual must cover.