I agree with sleeping410, there are no shortcuts and the statement you quoted smacks of being a scam.
As an accreditation consultant and a billing agency for DME I can tell you this. One of my accreditation clients recently sold his business as a STOCK sale, in other words, everything complete. I bugged NSC with countless questions prior to the sale to assure we would not have problems. That is the only way through the CHOW as you mentioned that this can be accomplished with Medicare and still keep the PTAN intact with the business. We had no problems with Medicare (NSC), the sale went smoothly and the PTAN remained in place for the new owners. They kept the same location as the previous owner. Moving the location to another state would just bring on a host of problems that would never pass the mustard with NSC.
On the accreditation side, again we had no problems with Jt. Commission. Their position is that as long as the scope of services remain the same with the new owners, they did not require a new site survey. However, that position is not set in stone and if they suspect something, the change of ownership "could" trigger a site survey.
You will see many more brokers making claims like the one you mentioned as the industry jockys its way through the competitive bidding process. Brokers know that companies who win bids and need a physical presence in a geographical area are going to be looking for DMEs that are for sale. However, many of them do not know the regulations and will lead less knowlegable buyers down a garden path of disaster. Feel free to contact me if you have further questions.
arrowmedical@vqme.com
Jim