Bid News Blog

From: The Press-Enterprise

By LORA HINES
The Press-Enterprise

Federal officials say a new system for distributing wheelchairs and other medical goods to frail, elderly and disabled people will start Saturday, despite renewed warnings that it will fail and put patients in jeopardy.

Previously, the government paid equipment suppliers based on a decades-old fee schedule established by federal law. Now, to save money and reduce the chance of fraud, beds, oxygen, diabetic supplies and other equipment will be provided only by companies that have won government contracts through a bidding process.

December 21, 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of the Data Quality Act (DQA), also known as the Information Quality Act, 44 U.S.C § 3516, note.

The DQA has deep roots developed over nearly a half-century as the result of a seed planted during the Johnson Administration which germinated in the Nixon Administration, was watered by the Carter Administration and whose product was harvested by the Reagan Administration, made available to the public in the Bush I Administration and subsequently enhanced by the Clinton Administration and promoted by the Bush II and Obama Administrations. See: http://thecre.com/ombpapers/SystemsAnalysisGroup.htm and http://thecre.com/quality/20010924_fedinfotriangle.html

From: Home Care Magazine

Dec 7, 2010 4:36 PM

From: Home Care Magazine

WASHINGTON — AAHomecare reports that in his first appearance at a Nov. 17 hearing on health reform before the Senate Finance Committee, CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D., singled out national competitive bidding program as an example of how the federal government can save money.

When Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, questioned him about projected savings under the Affordable Care Act, Berwick responded that the costs of DME had fallen 32 percent in “the trial” (Round 1) of the bid program, “returning something like $150 million I think back to beneficiaries in those nine trial areas.”