Every Medicare DMEPOS supplier — durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies — must keep a $50,000 surety bond on file for each NPI as a condition of enrollment. No bond, no billing privileges. DMEPOSSuretyBond.com underwrites these bonds directly: single locations, multi-state chains, elevated bonds, dental sleep medicine practitioners, and applicants that other markets turn away. Quotes the same business day.
The DMEPOS bond is Medicare's way of guaranteeing it gets its money back. When CMS determines that a supplier owes an overpayment, a civil money penalty, or an assessment and the supplier does not pay, the government does not simply write it off — a licensed surety stands behind the supplier and makes CMS whole. DMEPOSSuretyBond.com is that surety.
Mechanically, the bond is a contract among three parties. The DMEPOS supplier is the principal. CMS — administering the requirement through the National Supplier Clearinghouse and the National Provider Enrollment contractors — is the obligee, the party being protected. The surety is the financial guarantor behind the whole arrangement. If the principal defaults, the surety pays CMS and then pursues the principal for reimbursement.
The requirement is continuous. Coverage must be in place when billing privileges are granted and must remain unbroken for as long as the supplier bills the program. A lapse or an uncured cancellation results in revocation of Medicare billing privileges — which for most suppliers means the revenue stops the same week.
The supplier is bonded, CMS is protected, and the surety backs the promise with real capital.
Unpaid overpayments, unpaid civil money penalties, and unpaid assessments arising during the bond term.
Coverage must never break. Replacement paper goes on file before any cancellation takes effect.
Damaged credit and thin files qualify through our non-standard program. We decline no application.
The rule reaches every entity enrolling as a DMEPOS supplier, but Congress and CMS carved out specific professional categories. Getting the exemption analysis right before you buy — or before you skip buying — is worth ten minutes of reading.
Home medical equipment companies, respiratory and oxygen providers, mobility and complex rehab dealers, mastectomy fitters, ostomy and urological suppliers, diabetic supply firms, and pharmacies enrolled as DMEPOS suppliers. If you hold or seek a supplier number and bill Part B for DMEPOS items, the bond requirement presumptively applies to you.
Dentists furnishing durable medical equipment and dental prosthetic devices — most commonly custom oral appliances for obstructive sleep apnea (HCPCS E0486) — and billing a CMS program must comply with the DMEPOS bond requirement; 42 CFR § 424.57 contemplates both the DME and the dental prosthetics these practices furnish. We underwrite dental sleep medicine practitioner bonds routinely. Read the full dental sleep medicine guide →
Physicians and non-physician practitioners furnishing items only to their own patients as part of their professional service, qualifying physical and occupational therapists in private practice, and state-licensed orthotic and prosthetic personnel furnishing items solely through their own practice may be exempt. The conditions are specific — confirm before relying on an exemption.
State- and federally-operated suppliers that have provided CMS a comparable guarantee against unpaid obligations may be relieved of the commercial bond requirement. The guarantee must be on file and accepted — the exemption is not automatic.
CMS may direct a penal sum above the $50,000 base where a supplier's history warrants it — unpaid overpayments, prior civil money penalties, or adverse legal actions on the record. If you have received an elevated bond directive, do not shop it like a standard bond. Send us the directive itself; we underwrite elevated DMEPOS bonds against the actual exposure and structure terms accordingly.
Medicare requires $50,000 of bond penalty for each NPI for which billing privileges are sought or maintained. A chain doesn't buy one bond — it buys a stack. You can write an independent bond for each location, or a single blanket bond scheduling every NPI. We structure both, and for chains the blanket route usually wins on administration and price.
Slide to the number of NPIs / locations your organization operates. This is aggregate penal sum — the premium is a fraction of it, quoted per file.
Four locations × $50,000. At this size, a single blanket bond scheduling all four NPIs is typically cheaper to maintain than four separate bonds — one renewal, one rider when you add a location.
The process is deliberately light. Complete the online application on this page — or email your package to Underwriting@SuretyOne.com — and an underwriter opens your file the same business day.
Use the online form on this site or the fillable PDF. Have your NSC PTAN, accreditation details, and NPI list for every location ready.
A personal financial statement from the owner(s) and a current business financial statement of the DMEPOS operation. Commercial surety is unsecured credit — the financials drive the rate.
You receive a firm quote sized to your NPI count and history. Applicants outside standard parameters are routed into our non-standard program — still fully CMS-acceptable.
Once premium and signed indemnity are received, we issue the bond for filing with the enrollment contractor and deliver your executed copy. Coverage renews continuously unless you tell us otherwise.
Six deep-dive analyses of the obligation — the regulation, the exemptions, the multi-location mechanics, elevated directives, dental sleep medicine, and what happens when things go wrong. This is the reference material we hand to suppliers, practice consultants and enrollment counsel.
The federal bond is uniform nationwide — but many state Medicaid programs impose their own DME provider security requirements, and Texas and Florida maintain long-established $50,000 Medicaid-side bonds of their own. Our jurisdiction index covers all fifty states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, with dual-program structuring guidance. Browse the state index →
Start the application below, or send your package and financials to underwriting and we will open the file today. Standard and non-standard programs, single locations through national chains, handled under one roof.