Competitive Bidding Still Going ‘Smoothly,’ CMS Repeats

BALTIMORE — At an April 5 meeting of the Program Advisory
and Oversight Committee, CMS officials gave what industry attendees
described as a rosy picture
of competitive bidding since its January implementation in nine
MSAs. According to CMS’ Michael Keane, that’s still the case.

“The program continues to go very smoothly with few inquiries
and complaints and no evidence of negative beneficiary health
outcomes or negative adverse impacts (such as increases in
hospitalizations or emergency room visits),” Keane wrote in a June
17 letter to PAOC members.

He also said that the goal of ensuring multiple suppliers and
beneficiary choice under the program “has been met consistently
with no need to add additional contract suppliers.”

Keane, director of CMS’ Chronic Care Policy Group, wrote the
letter in response to some PAOC members who requested additional
data on Round 1 of the bidding program following the April meeting.
In a May
6 letter, a dozen of the 17 committee members asked for updates
on the percentage of beneficiaries using DME, the number of
contract suppliers that had closed or been added since Jan. 1 and
specific information on the mail-order diabetic supplies
category.

They also asked for clarification on the number of calls to
Medicare’s help line about competitive bidding.

Keane’s letter didn’t address all of the requests (or other
industry advocates’ concerns on how CMS classifies “complaints”
about the bidding program). It did include highlights for
1-800-MEDICARE from January through March showing that of 6,596,669
total calls, less than 0.9 percent — 57,530 — were
related to competitive bidding, with the number of those calls
“continuing to decrease weekly.”

According to the CMS data:

• Nearly 70 percent (39,492) of the competitive bidding
inquiries were general questions that did not relate to specific
products. The top questions were:

• “Can I have a list of suppliers that can be used?”
• “Can I continue to use my supplier/need to change?” and
• “How does competitive bidding affect me?”

• About 30 percent (18,038) of the competitive bidding
inquiries were about specific product categories. Of those, about
75 percent (13,813) were about mail-order diabetic supplies.

In their letter, the PAOC members noted that when competitive
bidding expands to 91 additional areas, “CMS can anticipate a
dramatic increase in queries, totaling more than one million
additional calls in less than a three-month period following
implementation of Round Two.”

Keane’s response said data from CMS’ real-time claims monitoring
that had been relayed at the PAOC meeting would be posted on its
website soon and then would be updated monthly.

“We expect to be able to make the information for the first
calendar quarter of 2011 available within the next two weeks,” he
wrote, adding, “We believe more complete information will provide
the public a more useful window to emerging trends in this
area.”

As of Friday, H.R.
1041, which would repeal the bidding program, had 133
cosponsors.

For more on the PAOC members’ requests, see “PAOC
Members Ask CMS for Specific Info on Round 1,” May 9.

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