VGM Group co-sponsors competitive bidding discussion

WATERLOO, Iowa, Aug. 7, 2012—Congressmen, Medicare beneficiaries, health-care professionals and an economist will gather Aug. 22 at Kohll’s Pharmacy and Homecare, 12759 Q St., to discuss a government mandate that will affect all Medicare beneficiaries and disabled individuals in 2013.

The topic will be competitive bidding for home medical equipment and services, which will become law in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area July 1, 2013. Omaha-Council Bluffs is part of the Round 2 bid area; Round 1 was implemented in nine metropolitan areas in 2011. Since that time problems with access, quality and choice of equipment and equipment providers have been widely reported.

Through a fractured auction system of nonbinding bids, an Omaha oxygen patient could be supplied by a low-bidder in Florida. Problems obtaining equipment in the Round 1 Kansas City and Dallas areas have resulted in longer hospital stays and patients confined to bed because wheelchair batteries had to be shipped across the country.

Invited guests include Congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham (Iowa), Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith (Nebraska), as well as Ken Brown, Ph.D., an economics professor at the University of Northern Iowa who completed a study documenting the impact competitive bidding will have on Iowa ($200 million negative economic activity; 2,500 lost jobs). This flies in the face of Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services claims that rural areas like Nebraska and Iowa will not be affected.

Co-sponsors of the event are VGM Group, Inc., an Iowa company that provides services to independent home medical equipment providers throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers.

Also attending as panelists will be Lauren Sheehan, occupational therapist; Linda Debolt and Tim Kolb, Medicare beneficiaries; Tammy Lauck, a social service worker; Jill Fuchtman, a home health nurse; and Jerry Culver, a respiratory therapist and home medical equipment provider. The event will run from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information contact Allen Kurland, Ed.D., Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare, 402-895-6812 x154. Also visit www.vgm.com.