ATLANTA — Members of the second Program Advisory and Oversight Committee said Friday they are hopeful they can have a positive impact on DMEPOS competitive bidding as the rebid process moves forward.
CMS will convene the first meeting of the new committee June 4 in Baltimore. The agency abruptly ended the term of the original PAOC members and called for new nominees in 2008, three months after Congress halted Round One of bidding (see Call for New PAOC Puzzles Current Members, Oct. 13, 2008). In January, CMS chose a new committee.
The group was initially established to provide CMS with advice on the implementation of competitive bidding. But previous PAOC members have been vocal in their criticism of CMS, saying that although the committee's name indicates they had oversight powers, they did not, and while they were to function as well in an advisory capacity, CMS seldom took their advice.
New PAOC members, who will be sworn in before the June meeting begins, are cautiously optimistic their voices will be heard this time around.
"I have wide open expectations," said Doran Edwards, MD, of Advanced HealthCare Consulting in Columbia, S.C., about serving on the PAOC. "I am looking forward to the group. I think we have some great players there and … we hope we can provide some insights to CMS on Round One if it must go forward."
Edwards, former SADMERC director, said if CMS and Congress decide to continue with competitive bidding, he hopes the group can help establish "a more equitable playing field for all players."
Committee member Walt Gorski, vice president of government affairs for the American Association for Homecare, said he hopes CMS "will use this meeting as an opportunity to gather feedback from the initial rollout of the program in order to modify and make corrections to problematic issues that arose in Round One.
"We also hope that CMS will explain in detail how it intends to proceed under a rebid of Round One," he added. "There is great hope that CMS will work to correct deficiencies rather than hastily attempt to meet an arbitrary deadline."
Gorski said he and other members of the group want to explore several questions, including why the competitive bidding program differed so dramatically from the demonstration project, particularly in regard to the number of suppliers chosen to service various areas; whether those providers would be able to survive if they only won one product category when they provided the whole complement of HME; and how under any competitive bidding program the government can set the price at a lower rate than what providers bid.
Other members of the 17-member committee include:
- Peter Amico, Prime Care Supplies Inc. of Holtsville, N.Y.
- Kendra Betz, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Richard Boulger, University of Iowa Business Solutions Center
- Sue ElHessen, Careers Unlimited Inc. of Bellflower, Calif.
- Joseph Furlong, American Home Patient of Brentwood, Tenn.
- Rita Hostak, Sunrise Medical Inc. of Mathews, N.C.
- Thomas Jeffers, Hill-Rom, Inc. of Batesville, Ind.
- Ruben King-Shaw, All-Med Services of Florida Inc.
- Ann Kohler, National Association of State Medicaid Directors
- Jeffrey Mansell, Texas Department of State Health Services
- Sharad Mansukani, NationsHealth Inc. of Sunrise, Fla.
- Thomas Milam, AmMed Direct LLC of Antioch, Tenn.
- Barbara Rogers, National Emphysema/COPD Association
- Esta Willman, Medi-Source, Yucca Valley, Calif.
- Debra Zak, The Joint Commission, Des Plaines, Ill.
The new PAOC members, to be sworn in before the June meeting begins, will serve through Dec. 31, 2011.