‘A Disastrous Day for DME’

MIAMI—In a notice sent yesterday, Rob Brant, president of
the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America, reminded the
industry of an anniversary most HME stakeholders would probably
rather forget.
 
Exactly one year ago on July 1, he noted, the two-week
implementation of competitive bidding began in the
Round One MSAs.
 
As the program gears up for a rebid, Brant asked several AMEPA
members what they remember most about July 1, 2008. Here’s
what they had to say, along with Brant’s own comments.
 
“Having to tell doctors and hospital case managers that we could
not help them, after they told us that they could not find local
bid winners to provide products and services. The worst part is
that a year later, many case managers still use Medicare’s
published booklet of bid winners as the only acceptable providers
for DME.”
—Jack Marquez, Cobra
Medical, Miami MSA
 
“I remember the first few days the program was implemented, getting
phone calls from bid winners I never heard of before asking me if I
wanted to make a deal. These bid winners had no presence in the
state or local area and no experience providing equipment. They
were trying to capitalize on their bid win, while Medicare
patients could not find local companies to provide them
services.”
—Barry Johnson, Texas Home
Medical, Dallas MSA
 
“As a bid winner for enteral feed, we were not prepared for the
tremendous amount of referrals we received from other DME companies
and bid winners that refused to provide expensive specialty
formulas of feed. To this day we are still servicing clients from
the first two weeks of the program that the cost of the enteral
feed is more expensive than today’s reimbursement, let alone the
bid reimbursement from July 2008.”
—Jeff Rittenberg, Surfmed,
Miami MSA
 
“My greatest frustration was losing an oxygen patient we serviced
through hurricanes and many years of excellent service because she
thought she could only be serviced by a bid winner. As one of the
few providers of liquid oxygen in the area, it was
also difficult listening to case managers tell me that none of
the oxygen bid winners were willing to provide liquid oxygen, and
patients could not get discharged. With everything going on
today in the industry, with my business and family, I will fight
and continue to fight to repeal this program, so I never have to go
through the process of the program again and the insanity of living
with the same outcome.”
—Rob Brant, City Medical
Services, Miami MSA