As July 1 Nears, Industry Hopes & Works for NCB Delay

June 19, 2008

The July 1 implementation deadline for the first round of Medicare's competitive bidding program is drawing ever nearer, but the DME industry continues to fight the good fight in urging Congress to significantly postpone the program's start.

As this issue of eMobility launched, two bills - H.R. 6252 in the House and S. 3144 in the Senate - were urging Congress to delay implementation of competitive bidding's first phase in 10 bidding areas nationwide.

DME suppliers, providers, industry organizations, consumer advocacy groups and other stakeholders have voiced persistent and serious concerns over the program starting as is. Concerns have ranged from the large numbers of suppliers suspiciously disqualified from bidding and thus left out of the process, to possible equipment access problems for beneficiaries, to bid winners who are geographically far removed from the beneficiaries they're supposed to serve or who seem to have little experience with the products or services they've contracted to provide.

   • To read or download an analysis of competitive bidding's first-round winners, by Elisha Bury, editor of Respiratory Management, CLICK HERE.

H.R. 6252, the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Acquisition Reform Act of 2008, was introduced June 12 by six Congressmen. The bill would discard current round one contracts, delay first-round implementation by 18 months, and restart the recontracting process in 2009.

The bill would also delay round two of the program till 2011.

H.R. 6252 excludes complex rehab - defined as Group 3 power wheelchairs and above, and accessories provided with them - from competitive bidding.

Should H.R. 6252 take effect, the accompanying "offset" would include a 9.5-percent reduction in 2009 of payments nationwide for equipment in round one's product categories. The annual payment update (CPI) would also be eliminated for those products in 2009. DME not included in the first-round product categories would receive the 2009 CPI.

The funding reductions would be mandated to offset the cost of the competitive bidding delay.

An identical Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), according to the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare).

AAHomecare says a diverse and large number of organizations supports the Reform Act, including the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Podiatric Medical Association, the ALS Association, the ITEM Coalition, the National Coalition for Assistive & Rehab Technology, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the Vision Council of America.

To read the bills, summaries of the bills, or to see which senators and representatives have already signed on, go to www.aahomecare.org.