Bill Would Exempt Small Pharmacy Diabetic Supplies from Bidding

WASHINGTON — Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Mike Rogers,
R-Mich., have introduced the Medicare Access to Diabetes Supplies
Act (H.R. 5235) to exempt diabetes supplies furnished by small
community pharmacies from DMEPOS competitive bidding.

“The current competitive bidding program favors larger health
care providers at the expense of smaller ones,” Bruce Roberts,
executive vice president and CEO of the National Community
Pharmacists Association, said in a statement about the bill.
According to the NCPA, small community pharmacies are currently
classified by the Small Business Administration as having annual
sales of $7 million or less.

A major concern about the Medicare bidding program, the NCPA
said, is that small pharmacies, particularly those in underserved
rural and urban areas, would be underbid “and ultimately forced out
of the program by larger suppliers that have no local presence but
could always offer Medicare a better price, even if the quality was
questionable. Consequently, community pharmacies and other
comparably sized providers have problems winning contracts.”

While 73 percent of community pharmacies sell DEMPOS, according
to the NCPA, “it constitutes only a small fraction of their total
sales. As a consequence, many community pharmacies will either
limit the amount of or stop offering DMEPOS rather than completing
the time-consuming and expensive competitive bidding process.”

The ramifications for seniors “are not only inconvenience but
potentially health compromising,” the NCPA statement said.

“Reps. Welch and Rogers offer a common-sense legislative
solution by exempting pharmacies of a certain size from this
requirement, which is why we call on Congress to roll up its
sleeves and pass it as soon as possible,” Roberts said.

See thomas.loc.gov for the
full text of H.R. 5235.

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