Florida Backs Away from Competitive Bidding

Tallahassee, Fla.

For the third time in as many years, it appears Florida providers will defeat a state Medicaid mandate for DME competitive bidding.

An amendment to a Senate bill strikes language that could have led to DME competitive bidding in the state, but in its place, lawmakers have added a mandatory accreditation requirement. The language complements a bill introduced in the state House with companion legislation in the Senate that would require Florida DME suppliers to become accredited.

“Accreditation is the best direction for the industry to move into,” said Ramon Maury, an industry lobbyist representing a coalition of several state providers, including Miami-based PediStat and Ft. Lauderdale-based Galaxy Medical. He added that the bills have recently been tweaked to address concerns raised by the Florida Association of Medical Equipment Services (FAMES).

One of the organization’s main concerns was that the bills’ original language would have required providers to become accredited by Jan. 1, which FAMES president Brian Seeley said would be “very difficult to implement.” Seeley, president of Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Seeley Medical, said while the association fully supports the intent behind mandatory accreditation, “we think that an effective date of Jan. 1, 2007, is more sound.”

A recent amendment to the measures allows for a kind of “temporary license” as long as providers can show “they’ve met minimum requirements and are going through the process of accreditation,” Maury said.

Three years ago, the state introduced a competitive bidding proposal that FAMES defeated in a $200,000 lawsuit. Two years ago, competitive bidding was again written into the budget, but the state’s agency never carried out the program.