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Bidding in Round Two? These are the codes that COUNT!
From: VGM
As I have explained numerous times in conversations with VGM members and in seminar sessions, of the almost 400 codes available in the nine categories only a handful of codes actually affect your overall composite bid.
Simply stated, your composite bid compares you to your competitors that are also vying for a contract in your CBA. Assuming other qualifications are met (e.g., financial, licensing, accreditation et al) the program is purely a mathematical function.
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Now Available: New Webcast for Round 2 and National Mail-Order Bidders
From: CMS
A new educational webcast for the Round 2 and national mail-order competitions of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program is now available on the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website at www.DMECompetitiveBid.com. This webcast, titled Program Rules, explains important rules detailed in the Request for Bids (RFB) Instructions that you should understand before you prepare your bids. The webcast also provides resources to assist you with bidding.
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Bid program to dominate conference
From: HME News
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The HME industry needs all hands on deck if it wants to be heard during this year’s AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference, association officials say.
“We can’t pass up an opportunity to make sure everybody knows what HME is about and why it’s important to preserve access to this type of care,” said Michael Reinemer, vice president of communications and policy. “Everyone else is here banging pots and pans and insisting their issues are the most important.”
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Now Available: New Webcast for National Mail-Order Bidders
From: CMS
A new educational webcast for the national mail-order competition of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program is now available on the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website at www.DMECompetitiveBid.com. This webcast, National Mail-Order Competition for Diabetic Supplies, covers rules that apply specifically to this competition and provides resources to assist you with bidding.
This webcast is available on demand to view at your convenience – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no charge to view the webcast, and a transcript is also posted on the website. To view the webcast, please go to the CBIC website, select Bidding Suppliers: Round 2 & National Mail-Order, and choose Education Events.
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Bid program: Providers go through the motions
From: HME News
By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine – Their hearts aren’t really in it, but left with no choice, home medical equipment providers have set out to meet CMS’s timeline for Round 2 of competitive bidding.
The first deadline: CMS “strongly encouraged” registering for Round 2 of competitive bidding by Dec. 22. Some providers were in less of a hurry than others.
“We’ll do it first thing in 2012,” said Andy Simmons Jr., vice president of Cornerstone Medical in Atlanta. “We figured we’d let everyone else get past this imaginary target date and then we’d get in.”
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Competitive Bidding Round 2; Lessons Learned from Round 1
From: HomeCare
How the competitive bidding experience of Round 1 participants can help you succeed in Round 2
by Dave ParksChris Rice’s company, Diamond Respiratory Care of Riverside, Calif., was awarded eight contracts in Round 1 of competitive bidding in 2008, an impressive feat in itself. Then, two weeks into the three-year contract period, everything was thrown out because of wayward paperclips and staples, and the process started over.
Incredibly, in the 2009 rebid, Diamond repeated its sweep in all eight categories of HME products in which Rice submitted bids.
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CMS dumps cushions from Round 2
From: HME News
By Elizabeth Deprey, Associate Editor
WASHINGTON – The complex rehab industry had another reason to celebrate this week when efforts to remove skin protection wheelchair cushions from Round 2 of competitive bidding finally paid off.
Industry efforts to exclude the four codes (E2622, E2623, E2624 and E2625) began even before Round 1 was implemented Jan. 1, 2011, and CMS agreed to make the change Dec. 28.
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The Medicare Debate
Editor’s Note: The following discusses the potential of competition to lower costs but does not explain that CMS’s existing implementation of competitive bidding is anythng but competitive.
From: National Review
by James C. Capretta
There are many reasons to be grateful for the introduction of the Medicare “premium support” plan by Democratic senator Ron Wyden and Republican House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan.
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Survey: Bidding program really does limit access
From: HME News
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
CHICAGO – Beneficiaries in Round 1 competitive bid areas have limited access to the most widely used diabetes testing supplies, says the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE).A survey by the association found that mail order contract suppliers, on average, offered only 38% of the product brands that are listed on www.medicare.gov. Of the nine brands identified by the Office of Inspector General in a 2010 report as the top mail order brands by market share, contractor suppliers offered, on average, only 1.44 of the brands, or 16%.“We were getting all of these stories from our educators who were hearing about problems, or having their patients tell them they don’t have a certain meter any more,” said Martha Rinker, chief advocacy officer for the AADE. “When we talked to CMS about it, or any other party, they’d say it was just anecdotal. We thought this was the best way to get concrete information.”With an average reimbursement cut of 56% for mail order diabetes supplies, it’s not all that surprising that many suppliers are offering lesser-known–and less expensive–brands. Dr. Peter Cramton, a vocal critic of the current competitive bidding program, predicted providers would cherry pick and switch patients to different brands to try and squeeze out a profit.“It’s in line with what I expected to see based on the current design of the program and the type of behavior it creates,” said Tom Milam, a member of the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) and former CEO of mail-order diabetes supply firm AmMed Direct.For Round 2, which expands the mail order diabetes bid to all 50 states and several U.S. territories, CMS has implemented changes it believes will prevent low-ball bids: Contract winners must provide, at minimum, 50% of all the different types of diabetes testing supplies on the market by brand names; and contract winners are prohibited from influencing or providing incentives to beneficiaries to switch their brands.But unless CMS plans to police suppliers, stakeholders don’t believe the provisions will work.“It’s easy to bid and give a low bid and say you’re going to do something and not do it,” said Rinker. “I think it’s going to be up to us who work with the patient community to get some congressional interest in this to make CMS take an interest.” -
Regulatory bid-rigging will cost medical patients
Editor’s Note: The following article highlights an issue that CRE and other authorities have made repeatedly, CMS’ “competitive bidding” system is not competitive, it is a convoluted and opaque form of price fixing.
From: The Hill’s Congressional Blog
By Steve Pociask, American Consumer Institute
The CMS has not done what Congress legislated it to do, and without correction, the result will be reduced patient access to prescribed medical supplies for home use, worsened patient outcomes and increased medical costs.
