Monday, April 13, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Association for Homecare reported last week it has retained a Washington health care consulting firm to develop several cost estimates for eliminating national competitive bidding. In developing the estimates, the firm will mirror methods used by the Congressional Budget Office, which works up the costs of legislative proposals before Congress.

The association has asked the firm to perform four estimates:

  1. Cost estimate for eliminating competitive bidding: The firm will produce a 10-year, CBO-style estimate of the federal cost of completely eliminating competitive bidding for DME. The spending model will incorporate the estimated savings from the impact of the 9.5 percent cut required by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 and the lack of CPI updates.
  2. Cost estimate for excluding oxygen from competitive bidding: The firm will create a 10-year estimate for excluding oxygen equipment and services from the bidding program, using the same baseline for spending as the first estimate.
  3. Cost estimate of restoring payments for complex rehab services: MIPPA excluded complex rehab from the bidding program but included it in the category affected by the 9.5 percent cut. The firm will estimate the 10-year cost of exempting complex rehab services from that cut and restoring prior payment levels.
  4. Cost estimate for delaying competitive bidding for three to four years: This estimate will look at the cost of various scenarios to pay for a delay in competitive bidding.