Competitive Bidding:
NEW BILLS OFFER BIDDING RELIEF
Published on Mon May 19, 2008
Delay of bidding looks likely, thanks to new bipartisan legislation.
DME suppliers may get a breather on bidding, but it will come at a high price.
On June 12, legislators in the House introduced a bipartisan bill to delay durable medical equipment competitive bidding for 18 to 24 months. Senators introduced a companion bill on June 17.
"The Bush Administration designed this program with blinders on to the needs of beneficiaries and the small companies that make up most of the DME industry," said bill sponsor Pete Stark (D-CA), Chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.
"This bill provides us with the time to get the program right and ensure we are reducing costs while protecting beneficiaries in the long run," said co-sponsor and subcommittee ranking member Dave Camp (R-MI) in a release.
"The competitive bidding program ... should stay on hold until it's certain that seniors will get the products they need in a way that works for them," said Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) in introducing the legislation.
The bill "will help prevent many small home medical equipment suppliers from going out of business," says Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley (R-IA) in a release. "That's especially important in states such as Iowa that are reeling from floods and tornadoes."
Ouch: But the break suppliers would get on bidding would come at a serious price. The bills call for a 9.5 percent reduction to Medicare payment rates for bid items to pay for the delay.
"As I told the industry from the start, this is no free lunch," Stark said. "This bill requires the DME industry to finance the cost of delaying the program." Stark asked industry representatives at a May hearing if they would accept a rate cut in exchange for a bidding delay.
Suppliers and industry reps initially called for a smaller rate reduction. The National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers estimated a 4 percent reduction would pay for the delay adequately.
The Scooter Store based in New Braunfels, TX called the 9.5 percent offset "excessive." Because power mobility device rates saw an average 27 percent cut in 2006, "we urge Congress to consider a smaller reduction in this particular category," the PMD supplier said in a release.
But NAIMES and the American Association for Homecare are backing the bills and calling for supplier support. "This bill is critical to making important improvements to Medicare policy that will protect America's seniors and people with disabilities who depend on home medical equipment and services in their homes," says AAHomecare's Tyler Wilson in a release.
"The DME industry can now almost breathe a sigh of relief," cheers NAIMES CEO Wayne Stanfield. The bills boost "the chances of a delay in this bad public policy by leaps [...]
