Tallahassee, Fla.
As preparations for competitive bidding on Medicaid DME move
forward in the Sunshine State, the program will have a new
director. Tom Arnold, who has been deputy secretary at the Florida
Department of Health, has been appointed deputy secretary/Medicaid
director of the state's Agency for Health Care Administration
(AHCA), which manages Florida Medicaid.
Arnold, who was to assume his new position Aug. 1, will lead the
program through the implementation of competitive bidding, which
was included in proviso language in the state's appropriations
budget. The provision calls for a contract on Medicaid DME —
excluding customized wheelchairs, colostomy and ostomy supplies,
orthotics and prosthetics — with payments at no more than 80
percent of current Medicaid rates. Signed into law earlier this
year, the provision is in the hands of AHCA, now charged with
formulating proposals to put the bidding process in place.
At press time, members of the Florida Association of Medical
Equipment Services (FAMES) were in talks with state officials about
the procedure. “I can't get into specifics, but there are
different interpretations as to what the statute is all
about,” said Javier Talamo, FAMES vice president and a health
care attorney at Miami-based Kravitz & Talamo.
For breaking news, go to www.homecaremonday.com, the electronic news service
of the home medical equipment industry.
