Washington Post Embraces “Antithesis of Science”

Editor’s Note:  CMS’s uncompetitive bidding has been debunked and denounced by every independent scholar who has anlyzed the program.  Over 240 professors and researchers, including several Nobel laureates, at schools ranging from the University of Maryland and the California Insitute of Technology to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT and many other have explained that,

it is now clear that the CMS design is not an auction at all but an arbitrary pricing process.

The scholars further explained that the Medicare program violates the Administration’s regulatory principle’s set forth President Obama’s Executibe Order on regulatory reform,

NASL praises bipartisan effort to delay Medicare competitive bidding program

From: McKnights Long Term Care News & AssistedLiving

Tim Mullaney

The National Association for the Support of Long-Term Care has registered strong support for lawmakers who say the government should put the brakes on a Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies.

In an example of bipartisan agreement in the House of Representatives, Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Bruce Braley (D-IA) composed a joint letter, which 226 other representatives signed. The letter asks Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to delay round two of the competitive bidding program, which is scheduled to take effect July 1. The program is set to expand from nine to 100 areas, including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Humana follows Medicare’s lead

From: HME News

by: Liz Beaulieu

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When it comes to the steep cuts Medicare plans to implement as part of Round 2 of competitive bidding, industry stakeholders have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In the wake of the announcement of the cuts—on average, 45% below the current fee schedule—there have been reports of private payers and Medicaid programs looking to slash pricing. But now, it looks like it’s happening on a much bigger scale.

Lawmakers call for delay of DMEPOS program

From: Modern Healthcare

By Rachel Landen

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have asked CMS  Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to delay the second-round implementation of  Medicare’s Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies  (DMEPOS) competitive bidding program, scheduled to take effect July  1.

Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) have circulated  a letter urging their congressional colleagues to press Tavenner to halt Round  Two of the program through the end of the year.

Proposed rule goes too far

From: HME News

by: Elizabeth Deprey

WASHINGTON – Providers with high error rates could lose their billing privileges if a proposed rule takes effect.

The Department of Health and Human Services published a proposed rule in the Federal Register April 29 that contains a provision that would expand Medicare’s authority to revoke billing privileges to cases where the provider “has a pattern or practice of billing for services that do not meet Medicare requirements.”

That’s going too far, say stakeholders.

“This is not revocation for fraud,” said Steve Azia, counsel at Washington, D.C.-based Baker Donelson. “A provider could lose billing privileges based on an error rate that’s often overturned.”

South Carolina Medicare suppliers tell Sanford program’s bid rules are flawed

From: The Post and Courier

Lauren Sausser

A group of small-business owners who distribute medical supplies to elderly patients got a chance last week to air their grievances about federal Medicare regulations to South Carolina’s newest congressman.

When U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., asked the group last week for more information about Medicare’s competitive bid program, an issue he said came up on the campaign trail earlier this year, he got an earful.

“The real problem with it is if you’re not awarded a contract, you have to stop participating in the Medicare program altogether,” said Daniel Gooch, president of the S.C. Medical Equipment Services Association.

Competitive bidding to impact our local area (Your view)

From: AL.com

By Letters from our readers

I am a provider of home medical equipment who has served this community for a number of years. We provide quality care and services to people requiring medically necessary equipment like home oxygen or wheelchairs. Caring for an aging family member in his own home is the most cost-effective and patient-preferred way of caring for the elderly. Yet The Center for Medicare Services (CMS) continues to slash the components that make quality homecare possible.

Abbott ad tackles Medicare change

From: Crain’s Chicago Business

By  Andrew L. Wang

Abbott Laboratories is running a national television ad that takes a pre-emptive strike at suppliers trying to shift Medicare patients away from the company’s diabetes test strips amid a rule change to the health care program for the elderly.

The advertisement, which has run on ESPN, USA Network, MSNBC and other channels, warns that suppliers of the test strips, which some diabetics use several times daily to monitor their blood glucose, could switch beneficiaries to “a brand that might not be as accurate, a brand your doctor never heard of” because Medicare is changing the way those products are paid for.

Delay sought in competitive bidding

From: Pittsburgh Business Times

Kris B. Mamula

Durable medical equipment vendors are continuing their opposition to Medicare’s competitive bidding program, most recently trying to delay the latest round of the program July 1.

In a letter to Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Centre County, asked that the program be delayed while questions about vendor credentialing and other issues are resolved.

“For these and many reasons, we believe that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should delay implementation of Round 2 and review the program in its entirety,” Thompson wrote in the letter, which was also signed by Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Iowa.

Industry casts further doubt on bid process

From: HME News

by: Theresa Flaherty

WASHINGTON – H.R. 1717 remains the HME industry’s No. 1 priority, but with time running out, stakeholders are again pressing for a delay in the July 1 start date of Round 2 of competitive bidding.

The basis for that delay: a growing list of contract suppliers that appear to fail to meet various licensure or accreditation requirements in accordance with CMS’s own bidding rules, they say.

“This is raising significant issues about the process that CMS used to apply due diligence to complete the contracting process and raises concerns about how the contracts were determined,” said Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of NAIMES.