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  • CRE Responds to CMS Request for Comments on its Information Collection Request to Collect Information Regarding the Effectiveness of the Competitive Bidding Program for Durable Medical Equipment

    5 comments

    The Paperwork Reduction Act prohibits any federal agency from collecting information from ten or more persons unless the said collection is first approved by the Office of Management and Budget.

     

    CMS has the statutory requirement to assess the effectiveness of its competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment .and report its  findings to the Congress. To this end, CMS submitted an Information Collection Request to OMB for Clearance.

     

    Comments on the ICR are of particular significance because deficiencies identified by CMS in the Congressionally mandated study  could be the basis for administrative and statutory changes in the  competitive bidding program.

     

     

    CRE has as much, if not more, daily contact with the beneficiaries of the CMS competitive bidding program then does any organization. The aforementioned contact is a result of CRE’s Interactive Public Docket (IPD) for durable medical equipment located here  .

     

    The IPD records all phone calls made by beneficiaries (patients). The text of the phone calls are typed and posted on the IPD along with a verbal recording of the phone call.

    Beneficiaries often discuss their specific problems with CRE personnel.

     

    Based upon this continuing dialogue with beneficiaries, the comments filed on the ICR are attributed to both CRE and Medicare Beneficiaries.

     

    CRE reached the following fundamental conclusion based upon comments received from Medicare Beneficiaries:

     

    The beneficiary Hotline calls were essential for identifying a critical failure in the ICR:

     

     beneficiaries are not being asked about whether they were forced to change suppliers because of competitive bidding and, if so, was their physical or mental heath impacted by the change.

     

    In its comments CRE states:

     

    The purpose of these comments is to make sure that the government hears the voices of Medicare beneficiaries and corrects this ICR so that CMS can learn and report to Congress on the actual impact of the DME competitive bidding program on older Americans.

     

    It is essential that the interests of Medicare beneficiaries be reinforced by suppliers, the Congress and the public by writing letters to CMS is support of CRE comments. Comments can be submitted to CMS  and a copy sent to CRE    CMScomments@thecre.com

     

    Read CRE comments below.

     

    5 responses to “CRE Responds to CMS Request for Comments on its Information Collection Request to Collect Information Regarding the Effectiveness of the Competitive Bidding Program for Durable Medical Equipment” RSS icon

    • Small businesses, who supply DME equipment in rural areas, are at risk under the competitive bidding process because the areas surrounding large cities such as Los Angeles extend into many rural areas which are actually far removed from the big city companies by time, distance, and traffic problems. This in turn places the persons who depend on these small companies at risk because they cannot easily or in a timely manner receive the DME equipment they need in order to leave the hospital or in order to survive in their home environment. To say these companies can continue by supplying at the prices bid by the large volume suppliers in big cities is ridiculous since most small companies are barely getting by now. Why is bidding necessary when CMS sets what they will pay? Spend the money designated for implementing this bidding process on enforcement of existing CMS rules and reducing fraud which primarily exists in these big city areas and more money will be saved than would be saved by any bidding process and at less cost and pain to to beneficiaries.

    • I’m concerned that small, local DME companies, who are already operating at the barely surviving level, will be forced out due to the bidding process, particularly in rural areas. CMS claims that this concern has been taken care of, but it seemed in the first flawed bidding process the large city areas like Los Angeles, etc. were so large that they overlapped into what are really rural areas of California which are actually hours removed from any DME supplier who might have been awarded contracts under the bidding process. Small, local DME companies with quick delivery to patients are the source of needed equipment which cannot be replaced by any large, so-called centrally located company who has won a bid because their volume buying allows them to bid lower than the small companies.

    • Subject: Small Durable Medical Equipment Companies in rural areas
      Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:57 +0000

      I’m concerned that small, local DME companies, who are already operating at the barely surviving level, will be forced out due to the bidding process, particularly in rural areas. CMS claims that this concern has been taken care of, but it seemed in the first flawed bidding process the large city areas like Los Angeles, etc. were so large that they overlapped into what are really rural areas of California which are actually hours removed from any DME supplier who might have been awarded contracts under the bidding process. Small, local DME companies with quick delivery to patients are the source of needed equipment which cannot be replaced by any large, so-called centrally located company who has won a bid because their volume buying allows them to bid lower than the small companies.

      Sincerely,

      Allen Round

    • Subject: Small Durable Medical Equipment Companies in rural areas
      Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:57 +0000

      I’m concerned that small, local DME companies, who are already operating at the barely surviving level, will be forced out due to the bidding process, particularly in rural areas. CMS claims that this concern has been taken care of, but it seemed in the first flawed bidding process the large city areas like Los Angeles, etc. were so large that they overlapped into what are really rural areas of California which are actually hours removed from any DME supplier who might have been awarded contracts under the bidding process. Small, local DME companies with quick delivery to patients are the source of needed equipment which cannot be replaced by any large, so-called centrally located company who has won a bid because their volume buying allows them to bid lower than the small companies.

      Sincerely,

      Allen Round

    • Subject: Small Durable Medical Equipment Companies in rural areas
      Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:57 +0000

      I’m concerned that small, local DME companies, who are already operating at the barely surviving level, will be forced out due to the bidding process, particularly in rural areas. CMS claims that this concern has been taken care of, but it seemed in the first flawed bidding process the large city areas like Los Angeles, etc. were so large that they overlapped into what are really rural areas of California which are actually hours removed from any DME supplier who might have been awarded contracts under the bidding process. Small, local DME companies with quick delivery to patients are the source of needed equipment which cannot be replaced by any large, so-called centrally located company who has won a bid because their volume buying allows them to bid lower than the small companies.

      Sincerely,

      Allen Round


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