VGM Steps Up Efforts to Fight Competitive Bidding

WATERLOO, Iowa–The VGM Group has announced that it is renewing
efforts to stop DME competitive bidding.

The effort follows “an extended and apparently unsuccessful
attempt by many in the industry to persuade legislators that the
plan is flawed and unnecessary,” according to a statement from the
buying group. While the Hobson-Tanner bill now pending in the House
of Representatives (H.R. 3359) would offer the industry some relief
from the bidding program–mandated under the Medicare Modernization
Act–“it has been slow to gather support,” the statement said.

“VGM believes that much more is needed soon, therefore we are
preparing a federal lawsuit seeking to strike sections of MMA on
constitutional and other grounds. This litigation is being
supported by VGM and will be brought in the names of patients of
VGM Group members as soon as CMS designates what the first 10
[metropolitan statistical areas] are. A number of patients have
already identified themselves as eager to be named parties,” said
Jim Walsh, president of VGM Management.

A public information campaign will be undertaken in some
congressional districts, he continued. “This multi-media effort
will educate the electorate in the home districts of the prime
supporters of selective contracting for HME. We want them to know
what their congressmen are up to and how their freedoms under
Medicare will be affected by those actions.”

VGM also will partner with other organizations that are likely
targets of selective contracting, as well as beneficiary groups
that could be adversely affected if the scheme is implemented. “A
two-tier medical system is bad for all patients and all providers,”
Walsh noted.

“A stepped-up informational campaign to all members of Congress
regarding our reasons for and efforts to stop selective
contracting, our affiliations in that effort and the basis of the
suit” will also take place.

To support the effort, VGM will contribute $50,000 to Last
Chance for Patients’ Choice, a not-for-profit organization it
formed to coordinate with other groups and help with costs of the
informational campaigns and the litigation.

Walsh said VGM will continue to support AAHomecare and others
“to urge passage of the Hobson bill.”

For more on the Hobson-Tanner bill, see HomeCareMonday,
Aug. 1.