VGM Steps Up Competitive Bidding Fight

Waterloo, Iowa

The VGM Group announced in October 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 (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 continued. At press time, the bill had picked up 45 co-sponsors.

“VGM believes that much more is needed soon, therefore we are preparing a federal lawsuit seeking to strike sections of the 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 competitive 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.”