Bid News Blog

From: HME News

By Mike Moran Executive Editor – 01.24.2011

YARMOUTH, Maine – When it comes to letting the competitive bidding program fail, HME providers are beginning to look like their own worst enemies.

Losing providers are, in some instances, artificially propping it up, say industry watchers.

By subcontracting at unprofitable rates, or providing services for free to beneficiaries who can’t locate a winning provider, losing providers are sparing beneficiaries pain and suffering. Without that pain and suffering, beneficiaries won’t complain to CMS, lawmakers and referral sources.

That’s not good, say industry watchers.

From: Home Care Magazine

WASHINGTON — In a Jan. 12 letter to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the National Community Pharmacists Association repeated its request for a permanent competitive bidding exemption for community pharmacies.

The letter included the NCPA’s recommendations on several regulations, including competitive bidding for diabetes testing supplies, that it said would “undermine patient access to cost-saving services and disadvantage the small businesses that provide this care.”

From: Home Care Magazine

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Monday, California Gov. Jerry Brown released a state budget for fiscal 2011-12 proposing a “painful” $1.7 billion in spending cuts for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, including a cap on DME benefits.

The cuts are part of Brown’s plan to eliminate California’s burgeoning budget deficit, now estimated at $25.4 billion. With an annual budget of $41.6 billion, Medi-Cal provides comprehensive health care services to 19.7 percent of Californians, or 7.7 million beneficiaries.

“These cuts will be painful, requiring sacrifice from every sector of the state,” Brown told reporters at a Jan. 10 press conference, “but we have no choice.”