NAIMES Launches Petition to Stop Competitive Bidding

HALIFAX, Va.–In just two days last week, more than 1,000 HME
providers and beneficiaries signed an online petition to stop
competitive bidding, said Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of the
National Association of Independent Medical Equipment
Suppliers.

The petition notes that if competitive bidding is implemented,
“many suppliers will be eliminated from participating in Medicare,
threatening the viability of their business and eliminating
jobs.”

It also lists patient risks such as loss of choice,
inconvenience, the potential of have to deal with multiple
providers and dramatic cutbacks in service, availability and
responsiveness.

As well, the petition says, economic risks loom, such as higher
long-term Medicare costs and the potential for hundreds of small
business failures and job losses due to elimination of independent
competitors.

NAIMES introduced the petition on Thursday. By Friday at 5 p.m.,
1,035 people had signed it.

“The comments on there are phenomenal,” said Stanfield. “Almost
50 percent are adding lengthy comments, and there is tremendous
passion in the comments. The biggest thing is patient choice and
the small provider.”

Stanfield said the organization is aiming for 30,000 signatures
in the next 60 days, but when he attends this week’s American
Association for Homecare Legislative Conference in Washington,
he’ll take however many signatures he has.

“I fully expect by Tuesday we will have 3,000 to 4,000
signatures on this,” he said. “And I am going to print it and hand
carry it to [Rep.] Jason Altmire.”

Altmire, D-Pa., chairman of the House Small Business
Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, convened a
congressional hearing last fall on the effects of competitive
bidding on small business, and has pushed for investigation of the
economic and health care impacts of the program.

“I think [the petition] is going to be a cornerstone to getting
his message out and getting his message to the people who need to
know,” Stanfield said.

The online petition is accessible at
http://thepetitionsite.com/petition/141840894.