DeParle Addresses Competitive Bidding

WASHINGTON–According to Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the
White House Office of Health Reform, Congress has “been convinced
before that a more competitive marketplace for durable medical
equipment is the right way to move forward, and I think there is a
way to do that and to meet them halfway.”

At an 8 am breakfast meeting with reporters this morning,
DeParle responded to a question on two of MedPAC’s
recommendations for Medicare savings–competitive bidding for DME
and new calculations for medical imaging payments–and the fact
that Congress has been fighting back on both.
 
“I don’t have all the details about those two items. I
don’t run the Medicare program anymore,” said DeParle,
former head of the Health Care Financing Administration (CMS’
predecessor).
 
However, she noted, “Competitive bidding isn’t just
something that MedPAC recommended, but it was enacted into law 12
years ago by Congress. In fact, I did those demos in durable
medical equipment, and my observation is that those demos were
successful. But they were quite different than what I think was
going on last year with competitive pricing for medical equipment,
and that may be why Congress decided it didn’t like what it
saw,” she said, referring to Congress’ delay of the
program last July.
 
The answer, DeParle said, “is to work with Congress, and
that’s what we’ll do.” 
 
As a key adviser to President Obama, DeParle has a major role in
shaping the administration’s positions on health care reform
and working to develop reform legislation on Capitol Hill.
 
“I’m here to tell you that we’re making lots of
progress in realizing the president’s goal of getting health
care reform enacted this year,” DeParle said at the
reporters-only briefing, hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation,
Families USA and the National Federation of Independent
Business.
 
Since taking on her new role a month ago, DeParle said she has
“met one-on-one with about 40 members of Congress”
discussing various health reform issues. Both the House and Senate
are on track to have reform bills completed this summer, she
said.
 
This week, HME industry advocates are continuing a hard push to get
CMS’ competitive bidding interim final rule rescinded.
Requiring a rebid of Round One in 2009, the rule becomes effective
April 18.