Monday, June 13, 2005

WASHINGTON--During the coming weeks, one of the HME industry's chief advocates on Capitol Hill plans to introduce a bill that would modify the DME competitive bidding provision in the Medicare Modernization Act.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, has been a vocal opponent of competitive bidding "from the start," said Cara Bachenheimer, vice president of government relations for Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio. The new legislation is expected to be introduced before Congress' July 4 recess, she said.

Speaking at the American Association for Homecare's Washington Leadership Conference, Bachenheimer outlined components of the bill, which would:

  • Require CMS to implement quality standards at the same time as competitive bidding.
  • Restore the judicial appeal rights for providers participating in the bidding program. (The MMA takes away that right for bidding providers.)
  • Exempt rural areas with 500,000 or fewer people from the bidding program.
  • Require CMS to go through a formal process to demonstrate that competitive bid rates are appropriate for non-bid areas. (The MMA gives CMS the right to apply competitively bid rates to non-bid geographic areas in 2009.)
  • Require CMS to show the "reasonable likelihood" of significant savings for a product before selecting it for competitive bidding.
  • Subject the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee--formed to advise CMS on implementation of the bidding program--to provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a sunshine law that ensures meeting proceedings, minutes, transcripts and other materials are available to the public.

While the bill would not repeal the competitive bidding mandate, Bachenheimer said, "the objective is to make [the process] more rational than it currently is. Mr. Hobson ... is considering the impact on small business across the country."

Hobson also sponsored last year's H.R. 4491, a bill that would have repealed 2005's MMA-mandated DME reimbursement cuts, and was presented with an award from AAHomecare honoring him as one of four "Legislators of the Year." The association also presented awards to Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.; and Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn.