House subcommittee sets hearing Wednesday on competitive bidding

The Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee announced last week that it has scheduled a hearing Wednesday into Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program to gauge its impact on patients, suppliers and program expenditures. The hearing could provide a format for seeking replacement of the controversial program.

The subcommittee is expected to assess Round 1 of the Competitive Bidding Program, which already has been implemented in nine metropolitan areas, and plans for implementation of Round 2 in 91 additional metropolitan areas. The hearing starts at 9 a.m. in the 1100 Longworth House Office Building.

The American Association for Homecare stated it will use the hearing to highlight deficiencies in the bidding program and press Congress to replace it with a Market Pricing Program.

The Market Pricing Program is being advanced by the HME industry as a way to save Medicare the same amount of money as competitive bidding, but allow more HME businesses to survive as Medicare providers. Legislation containing the Market Pricing Program has yet to be assessed by the Congressional Budget Office for its cost, another key step toward replacement of competitive bidding.

For more information, and instructions on how to submit written comments to the subcommittee hearing, go to the Ways and Means Committee website.