Kansas City Beneficiaries Face Competitive Bidding Surprises, Loss of Suppliers, Service Decline

Editor’s Note:  The following is first in a series of posts from competitive bidding’s front lines.  The data is from a conference call sponsored by Last Chance for Patients Choice and facilitated by “People for Quality Care” of the VGM Group, in the Kansas 2^nd Congressional district, part of the Kansas City Round 1 Rebid Competitive Bidding Area.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of nearly 1,000 beneficiaries surveyed  in Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District were forced to change suppliers during the last eight months.  Despite CMS’ education efforts preceding the Round 1 Rebid, only 15% of the beneficiaries were aware that the Kansas City area had been chosen as one of nine initial metropolitan areas for the competitive bidding project — a stunning failure of the CMS outreach efforts.

The most disturbing finding of the survey was that 60% of surveyed Medicare beneficiaries experienced delays in receiving DME services and/or supplies during the last eight months.  By contrast, only 40% of beneficiaries had experienced a similar delay in the previous two years.  Put another way, delays in beneficiaries receiving DME services supplies were up by 50% following the imposition of competitive bidding.

It is incumbent on CMS to review and evaluate the problems which beneficiaries are experiencing in obtaining life-saving DME equipment and services prior to beginning the Round 2 bidding process.  CMS should also revise and expand their education outreach efforts to explain to beneficiaries that they are likely to lose trusted providers as a result of competitive bidding.