Inside CMS Report On the CRE IPD For The CMS Competitive Bidding Rule

CRE Interactive Site Offers Venue For Debate On Competitive Bidding

Inside CMs

Stakeholders hoping to influence CMS’ restart of its controversial durable medical equipment competitive bidding effort now have a new outlet: An interactive, online “docket” unveiled Wednesday (May 27) by a veteran lobbyist who headed the Office of Management and Budget’s regulatory affairs shop during the Reagan administration. Jim Tozzi, now on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness,  said CRE’s interactive docket allows a stakeholder to directly comment on another stakeholder’s post on the Web site, to interact online in a “discussion forum” about a particular rule or regulation and to e-mail CRE with comments that CRE can then highlight or expand upon, he said.

CMS Competitive Bidding: Adopt the CRE Small Business Enhancement Option

CMS’ Durable Medical Equipment Competitive Bidding Program could eliminate as many as 90% of  the  providers from the market place, primarily small businesses.  The loss of these many small firms would jeopardize patient care since the patient-provider relationship is crucial when using  home medical equipment. Safeguards must be put in place so another industry is not dominated by “too big to fail” companies.

CMS has not yet demonstrated compliance with “good government” laws , the laws that “regulate the regulators”; these laws include  the Paperwork Reduction Act, its companion, the Data Quality Act, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

CRE Testimony to the CMS Program Advisory Oversight Committee

Testimony of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

Before

CMS Program Advisory Oversight Committee

June 4, 2009

I am Jim Tozzi of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.  We are a regulatory watchdog organization focused on ensuring federal agency compliance with the “good government” laws that regulate the regulatory process.  These laws include the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, and the Data Quality Act, also known as the Information Quality Act. We frequently participate in FACA processes and I serve on a FACA committee sponsored by another agency.

Request for Information

CRE’s Data Quality Alert emphasized the need for reliable data on a number of specific issues including “supplier capacity.”  This term refers to CMS’ estimates of the ability of bidders to meet projected demand for DMEPOS items within a Competitive Bidding Area (CBA).  CMS’ planned methodology for estimating supplier capacity includes looking “at trend data for new suppliers in that area, and examine the capacity of other suppliers in that area.”

CRE requests that readers provide us with supplier capacity information including data related to projected demand and data concerning the ability, or inability, of potential bidders to meet demand in a CBA in accordance with CMS standards.

Inside CMS Article on the CRE Interactive Public Docket

 Inside CMS has written a comprehensive article in its May 27, edition, entitled “CRE Interactive Site Offers Venue For Debate On Competitive Bidding. The article makes the following points:

·        Stakeholders hoping to influence CMS’ restart of its controversial durable medical equipment competitive bidding effort now have a new outlet: An interactive, online “docket” unveiled Wednesday (May 27) by a veteran lobbyist who headed the Office of Management and Budget’s regulatory affairs shop during the Reagan administration.

Google Highlights the CRE IPD on CMS Rule

cms-ipd-google-pdfOn the launch date for the CRE IPD , Google recognized the CRE website on the CMS Competitive Bid rule by listing the IPD on the first page of a Google search when the words “CMS competitive bidding” are entered  in the search engine– see the attachment.

The aforementioned placement by Google will ensure that comments placed on the  IPD will be given considerable publicity–considerably  more than is accomplished by relying on a static regulatory docket.

CRE Files Data Quality Alert on the Competitive Bidding Rule

Presently there is no systematic and public manner in which the public  can provide CMS their views on program implementation.  To fill this void,  CRE has developed this  Interactive Public Docket (IPD) which will be submitted to CMS.

A Major Wall Street Firm To Opine On Competitive Bidding Rule

A major Wall Street firm which evaluates the stock of publicly held companies will offer comments on the CMS competitive bidding rule. This extraordinary measure is required because regulators have not assessed the impact the Interim Final Rule will have on a number of firms

CRE’s IPD on the CMS Competitive Bidding Rule

competitivebidding-ifrThe Interactive Public Docket (IPD) is a product of CRE’s historical work to allow the public to be involved in regulatory decisions after the end of a public comment period on a proposed rule,  after a final rule is issued or when  a regulatory agency is implementing a rule—in essence when the regulatory docket is closed.

Regulatory decisions are often public policy decisions which are subject to a constant flow of new information.  Federal regulators should be advised of this information on a continuous basis (24/7) and not restricted to the usual sixty to ninety days allowed for public comments during normal rulemaking. The attachment hereto describes how the CRE IPD operates.

Comments Submitted to CMS by AdvMed

Of particular note in the AdvMed comments is the emphasis they placed on the role that the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) could assume in the competitive bidding program. The PAOC, in that it is meeting on June 4, should be advised of specific actions it could take to improve the competitive bidding program.
CRE will initiate an action to have the PAOC address issues of particular concern.

The attachment to this article and all following articles are the public comments  filed to CMS by the respondents so identifed above.