WATERLOO, Iowa, June 3—An article describing competitive bidding as a “business killer” was published by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, just before the start last week of VGM’s Heartland Conference.
In the article, Ken Brown, a University of Northern Iowa economics professor, said expansion of competitive bidding next year could force as many as half of Iowa’s home medical equipment providers out of business.
“The system is designed to eliminate suppliers,’’ Brown told the newspaper. Brown said the total economic impact on the region would be about $60 billion in lost revenue and 400 lost jobs.
Mike Mallero, VGM’s chief financial officer, told the newspaper that expansion of competitive bidding could affect up to 6,000 businesses nationally, and make access to home medical equipment and services more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries. “It’s a disaster,’’ he said. “It’s a business killer for us.”
The article was published Sunday, June 3, and the VGM conference, which attracted more than 1,000 HME industry leaders, ran Monday through Thursday.