Nurse Speaks Out on Competitive Bidding (with Related Video)

WATERLOO, Iowa — People for Quality Care has recently completed several videos in its documentary series on how competitive bidding affects Medicare beneficiaries.

This time the grassroots advocacy group’s Kelly Turner and Beth Cox have turned the camera on patients and patient advocates in the Dallas area, one of the nine Round 1 MSAs.

Registered nurse Cathy McMullen works for a home health agency in Denton, Texas, where the program was implemented in January. She calls competitive bidding “a nightmare.”

“The small DME companies that we counted on that we had a relationship with who would come forward and say, ‘We’ll get this out there for you this afternoon even if we have to stay late,’ that’s gone,” McMullen says, adding that now there is only one company she can find that serves the Dallas metroplex for certain products.

“The doctors are asking for the equipment, have an order for the equipment, Medicare has said you can have that equipment, but we don’t have a provider for that equipment, so it’s a real negative impact that we’ve had in this area,” McMullen says.

Another video features 71-year-old muscular dystrophy patient Joe Sanders and his wife Beverly as they discuss  the loss of Sanders’ long-time HME provider in Denton under the bidding program. After being prescribed a hospital bed because of trouble turning over on his own, Sanders relates, he ended up buying a used bed from Craig’s List. .

In March, PFQC delivered its first video from HME patients talking about the effects of competitive bidding to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

View more competitive bidding stories.