Heat Is On for Tomorrow’s Hearing on Competitive Bidding

WASHINGTON — The HME industry’s cries may not have stymied
competitive bidding, but
at least Congress is listening.

The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee has scheduled a
hearing on the Medicare bidding program tomorrow, sending advocates
into high gear urging stakeholders to contact their representatives
immediately to air their views.

“We have heard from both suppliers and beneficiary
advocates that the DMEPOS competitive bidding program is not
working as well as it is supposed to,” said subcommittee
Chairman Fortney “Pete” Stark, D-Calif. “I look
forward to hearing their concerns, as well as from CMS, as we
consider whether changes need to be made before the program is
further expanded.”

For months, an array of industry organizations and advocates has
encouraged providers to educate legislators on problems with the
bidding program and ask them to slow its implementation. Lighting
up the phone lines apparently helped, as the Ways and Means hearing
advisory cited concerns that “some suppliers were improperly
excluded from the bidding process and beneficiary access to certain
types of equipment could be reduced in areas affected by the
program.”

In addition, industry complaints about an inventory of problems
with the bidding program–the overlooking of small providers, a
flawed certification/application process, unfair bidder exclusions
and an excessively short period (10 days) for contract acceptance
in round one–have also gained attention, and inquiries to CMS from
both congressional chambers have risen steadily in recent
months.

House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, has called on
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt
to delay round one “until the mistakes and irregularities can
be remedied.” Last month, a group of eight senators led by
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, fired off a letter to Leavitt
seeking a meeting to address what they termed “widespread
issues” pertaining to the DMEPOS bid.

And last week, officials at Pride Mobility notified Leavitt of
“potential problems” with power wheelchair bids in the Riverside,
Calif., CBA and called for a full investigation, adding to the
mounting pressure for government officials to respond (see story in
this issue).

Nevertheless, CMS leaders have said repeatedly they intend to
implement competitive bidding as planned, with round one to take
effect July 1. The agency has scheduled a national provider
training call about the program for Tuesday, May 13.

At tomorrow’s hearing, the American Association for
Homecare will present testimony along with senior officials from
CMS and other invited witnesses. But industry stakeholders must
also keep up the pressure, AAHomecare urged.

In a special Friday edition of its newsletter, the Midwest
Association for Medical Equipment Services implored members to
continue the fight against competitive bidding. “It does
impact everyone even if you are not in round one or two,”
MAMES said. “We are hearing every day throughout the country
that local state payers are beginning to adopt some of the fee
schedule items for round one competitive bidding.”

The National Association of Independent Medical Equipment
Suppliers has issued a similar warning, pointing to a recently
amended United Mine Workers of America contract that applies round
one fees to any patients living in a competitive bidding area. The
contract states that suppliers will be paid the lesser of the
contract fee or the competitive bid fee for patients living inside
or moving inside any of the 80 CBAs targeted for the program.

“This is another unintended and serious consequence of
competitive bidding,” said Wayne Stanfield, NAIMES president
and CEO. “We have been concerned about this happening; it
just came sooner than expected.”

The organization said last week it has mailed a “STOP
Competitive Bidding” pack to all 100 members of the
Senate–which is currently working on Medicare
legislation–including a CD with a 5,200-signature petition asking
Congress to stop the program. In light of tomorrow’s hearing,
the packs have also been sent to all members on the House Ways and
Means Committee.

To support its testimony in tomorrow afternoon’s hearing,
AAHomecare is asking “all providers and manufacturers to
contact their members of Congress prior to the event to state their
concerns with the flawed bidding program. This is especially
important for those whose representative in the U.S. House sits on
the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.”

Those congressional representatives are:

• Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, D- Calif.
• Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas
• Mike Thompson, D-Calif.
• Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.
• Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.
• Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D.
• Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio
• Ron Kind, D-Wisc.
• Ranking Member Dave Camp, R-Mich.
• Sam Johnson, R-Texas
• Jim Ramstad, R-Minn.
• Philip English, R-Pa.
• Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo.

The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday, May 6) in
the Longworth House Office Building.

To contact House members, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at
202/224-3121 and ask for your representative’s office.

To submit comments for inclusion in the hearing record, go to
the House Ways and Means Committee Web site at http://waysandmeans.house.gov.
Select “Committee Hearings” from the top navigation
bar, then choose the May 6 hearing titled “Medicare’s DMEPOS
Competitive Bidding Program.”

Are you hopeful that, with industry efforts in full swing,
Congress/CMS will suspend round one of competitive
bidding? To vote in HomeCare’s monthly Web poll,
visit
www.homecaremag.com.