ATLANTA — DMEPOS competitive bidding was topmost on providers' minds at Medtrade last week, along with dealing with audits and changing the way their businesses run. While many attendees said they were optimistic about the future for the HME industry, the dilemma, they said, is figuring out how to remain in it by keeping their companies viable.
"Competitive bidding is going to limit the choice that seniors have for their home care needs. It will also limit the ability to compete for service. The bid amounts that are currently out there for Round 1 are so low, there is no room to provide service. You are providing the cheapest, basic piece of equipment you can provide."
— Jim Shreve, Augusta Health Care Home Medical, Fishersville, Va.
"We're just a small company in Louisiana, and we hope people in Congress can stop it. If we can't get supporters to derail competitive bidding, it will eventually affect everybody."
— Linda Robinson, Northwest Medical Supply, Bossier City, La.
"My company is a very strong, local, community-based company, and we didn't win any bids. I am concerned that competitive bidding reduces patient choices by reducing the number of suppliers available to them. We have great relationships with physicians, hospitals and home health agencies, but our patients are going to lose out because we didn't get a shot like the big guys did."
— Carson Turner, ATP, Progressive Mobility and Medical, Washington, Pa.
"Competitive bidding is coming, we know that. We know it's going to impact us. How it affects us we don't exactly know yet. Nobody likes competitive bidding, but we have to deal with what the market brings and what you do with it. We are finding different products at Medtrade to expand our line and our sales [to help us cope]."
— Richard Bartolozzi, Advanced Care, Wayne, N.J.
"I'm shopping for CPAP equipment, because that seems to be the highest revenue generator, especially for supplies."
— Desiree Dunston, Mid-Carolina Homecare Specialists
"I think every provider needs to look at what they're doing to build their reserves back and focus on the areas that create those reserves, because the money fairy is not going to show up anytime soon. We all have to buckle down and make some difficult decisions. All of us need to do that, not just those in competitive bid areas."
— Tim Pederson, WestMed Rehab, Rapid City, S.D.
"The whole industry has to go to battle for our survival — 32 percent across the board is going to affect us all, with Medicaid and all the insurance companies following suit. We all have to do battle. We're in Ohio, and Ohio is getting beat up, but we all have to pull together and do it right."
— Michael A. Semon, Caring Solutions, Crestline, Ohio
"When we finished bidding, the amount for Round 1 was pretty low. I found out people from out of state came in and bid low, and they are the ones that got the bid. The people from Cincinnati didn't get the bids. I don't know how that is going to work."
— Victor Iloegbunam, BetterLiving Medical Supplies, Cincinnati
"We have been warned for years about compliance audits, and now they are coming to fruition. All in all, my company is in pretty good shape, but the game is changing. I have learned in the sessions I have attended that you can always find ways to do better."
— Scott Kilgore, Hometown Healthcare, Houston, Miss.
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