CMS Competitive Bidding

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 27, 2016)—Since the start of the New Year, AAHomecare leadership has taken part in numerous discussions with leading companies and associations in the HME sector to map out strategy to get relief for companies in rural areas, as well as those in other non-bid areas, now subject to Medicare competitive bidding-derived pricing.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 29, 2105)—President Obama signed The Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act (S. 2425) into law yesterday.

The bill, which was quickly passed through Congress using a rare "hot-line" procedure in the Senate, and then by unanimous consent in the House on December 18, includes a one year delay on the application of Medicare competitive bid pricing to complex rehab technology (CRT) accessories used with Group 3 power wheelchairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 16, 2015)—AAHomecare has confirmed that HME legislative priorities will not be a part of Omnibus spending legislation package that Congress will consider later this week. In addition, the Medicaid "pay for" targeted to help pay for rural relief legislation has been included in the Omnibus legislation, with a 2019 effective date.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 8, 2015)—House legislation to address CMS’ plans to apply bidding-derived pricing outside of competitive bidding areas (starting January 1, 2016) has been introduced today by Reps. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) The new bill, HR 4185, the Protecting Access through Competitive-pricing Transition (PACT) Act, includes provisions that:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 18, 2015)—In June, CMS announced its intention to make changes to the HCPCS codes for ventilators, including dramatically lowering the payment rate—by 35 percent—for these devices/therapies, starting on January 1, 2016.


BISMARCK, N.D. (November 16, 2015)—AAHomecare officials met with its entire North Dakota delegation in March 2014 in Bismarck, at Great Plains Rehabilitation Services, and started discussing all the problems associated with competitive bidding.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (November 4, 2015)—ARI Network Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIS) announced today that it will host the next HelpForce Live! webinar, How to Combat Competitive Bidding on Tuesday, November 10 at 4 p.m. EST.

Dealers can join ARI’s Dennis Olsen and Patrick Miller for this information-packed session to learn ways to manage the National Rollout of Competitive Bidding set for January 1, 2016.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 6, 2015)—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a preliminary list of what they consider rural zip codes. The rural areas in these ZIP codes will receive a ten percent add-on when competitive bidding rates go into effect nationwide on January 1, 2016.