DME Competitive Bidding Back on the Table in Florida

Tallahasee, Fla.

For the third time in three years, competitive bidding for Florida Medicaid DME business is back in play. The current proposal, stated as proviso language in state appropriation bills, asks for a contract on Medicaid DME — excluding customized wheelchairs, colostomy and ostomy supplies, orthotics and prosthetics — with payments no more than 80 percent of current Medicaid rates.

“The bid [would] begin at a 20 percent reduction and go from there,” said Javier Talamo, director of political services at PediStat, a Miami provider of pediatric DME and services. The proposal says DME providers should “bid on services like ventilator care and high-tech pediatric care, which by their complexity should be [acquired] on a capitative basis,” he said. “[The proposal] deprives the [beneficiary] of the right to choose a provider.

“You don’t want to put the life of children in the hands of the lowest bidder,” Talamo continued. “That’s repulsive.” Talamo, also vice president of the Florida Association of Medical Equipment Services (FAMES), is leading an informal coalition of about 25 companies throughout the state to fight the proposal.

Two years ago, the state introduced a competitive bidding proposal that FAMES defeated in a $200,000 lawsuit. Last year, competitive bidding language was again written into the budget, but the proposal fizzled. Although FAMES is putting its full support behind the coalition, it does not have the financial resources to challenge the current proposal, according to Talamo.

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