WASHINGTON – Despite growing concern from the durable medical equipment industry and Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken the next step in its plan to implement a bidding process to provide medical equipment and supplies.
CMS identified 325 suppliers in May who have signed contracts with Medicare to provide durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies in 10 communities across the country.
Meanwhile, Congressional efforts to re-examine the program are continuing.
The program goes into effect on July 1. CMS said it wants to move toward a competitive bidding process in an effort to lower the costs for DME and other supplies for the program and beneficiaries who face copayments for purchasing the supplies.
The program has drawn sharp criticism from DME suppliers who say it’s structured to exclude participation from small medical equipment suppliers who aren’t large enough to compete for bids in the program.
Congressional pressure is being brought to bear on the program. The subcommittee on urban and rural entrepreneurship of the House Committee on Small Business was expected to conduct a hearing in late May on the program. In addition, the American Association for Homecare has urged members to contact senators to seek a delay in the program. Six senators drafted a letter in May to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt outlining their concerns about the program. And the organization says a “Dear Colleague” letter written by three members of the House of Representatives was being circulated for signatures.
The CMS announcement of the bid awards made no mention of any delays in the program, instead noting its estimates that beneficiaries and the Medicare program will see DMEPOS prices that are, on average, 26 percent lower than Medicare currently pays for the same items.
CMS reported receiving about 6,200 bids from 1,005 suppliers serving the 10 “competitive bidding areas.” The 23 percent of suppliers who had bids accepted “were in the winning price range and met quality and financial standards,” CMS officials said.
CMS officials said 61 percent of the bids were priced higher than the winning range, and slightly more than half of those bids were disqualified because they didn’t meet other bid requirements. Another 16 percent of bids were disqualified even though they were in the winning range.
CMS also announced that it will extend the accreditation deadline for suppliers in the 70 metropolitan statistical areas that will comprise the second round of bidding areas, to take effect in 2009.
Reacting to announcements about round one, Tyler J. Wilson, president of the American Association for Homecare, said, “Nothing that CMS or Kerry Weems said about the bidding program have allayed the numerous concerns about the harmful impact that the program will have on patients and on the provider community. It’s still a complete train wreck.”