The unannounced survey checklist

First five minutes: the arrival

• Verify credentials, politelyA legitimate surveyor expects to show ID and say which accrediting organization sent them. Checking is professionalism, not hostility.
• Have a named point person — and a backupEvery employee should know who hosts a surveyor when the owner is out. "The person who handles that isn't here" is how bad surveys start.
• Offer a workspace, keep serving customersSurveyors watch the shop operate. A calm shop that keeps helping patients while producing documents is itself evidence of a well-run operation.
• Don't stall, don't volunteerProduce what's asked for promptly. Answer what's asked. Nobody is helped by a nervous twenty-minute tour of everything you've ever filed.

The documents they will ask for

Nearly every DMEPOS survey works through the same core records. The test isn't whether these exist somewhere — it's whether your shop can produce them while the surveyor waits:

• Proof of deliverySigned and dated, for specific claims the surveyor picks — often traced backward from billing records. (This is the most-cited area; it has its own guide.)
• Complaint log with resolutionsIntake date, who took it, what happened, when it closed. Phone complaints count. An empty log with a real process beats no log.
• Personnel filesPer employee: orientation, job-specific training, a competency check dated within the last 12 months, and background screening where required. Undated paper might as well not exist.
• Equipment maintenance & cleaning logsTraceable by serial number for rental and reusable equipment, plus your process for FDA recall notices — and evidence someone actually checks them.
• Licenses, surety bond, insuranceCurrent state licenses, your $50,000 surety bond, and liability coverage — copies on-site. Expired paperwork is the fastest citation there is.
• Beneficiary rights & disclosuresThe written rights packet you give patients, your complaint process, warranty information, and signed acknowledgments on file.
• Intake & verification recordsEvidence you verified insurance eligibility before delivery and told patients their estimated out-of-pocket cost.
• Quality / performance improvement recordsThe measures you track, and notes proving you reviewed results and fixed something. A binder with no activity reads as theater.

What your staff will be asked

Surveyors routinely interview whoever is working — not just the owner. The questions are predictable, which means they're preparable:

• "What do you do if a patient calls with a complaint?" — every employee should name the log and who reviews it.
• "Where's the beneficiary rights information?" — pointing at the packet is a fine answer; a blank look is not.
• "How do you handle an equipment recall?" — the answer should include a named person and a written process.
• "What training have you had for your role?" — should match what's in their personnel file, because the surveyor just read it.

The walkthrough

Expect eyes on the physical operation too: cleanliness and separation of clean vs. dirty equipment, how returned rental gear is handled before it goes back out, oxygen storage if you carry it, posted business hours matching your enrollment record, and signage. Small physical fixes are cheap; findings about them are not.

After they leave

You'll get findings in writing if there are any — usually with a deadline to submit a corrective action plan. Respond on time, fix the process (not just the instance), and keep the evidence of the fix. If the survey went badly, read the guide on what happens next — the response window matters more than the finding itself.

This guide is informational only and isn't legal advice or a substitute for your accreditor's standards, the CMS DMEPOS Quality Standards, or 42 CFR 424.57.