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.