Bid News Blog

From: HME News

by: Elizabeth Deprey

WASHINGTON – It was a big win in the HME industry’s fight against competitive bidding when CMS disqualified one-third of the contract suppliers for Tennessee, but that’s not the only state with licensure issues, stakeholders point out.

“It establishes a precedent that CMS is going to have to deal with,” said Andrea Stark, a reimbursement consultant with MiraVista. “I see it as a domino falling, the beginning of a chain reaction.”

CMS last week sent letters to 30 contract suppliers for Tennessee, disqualifying them for not meeting state licensure requirements, such as having a physical presence in the state, by May 2012.

Editor’s Note:  CMS’s uncompetitive bidding has been debunked and denounced by every independent scholar who has anlyzed the program.  Over 240 professors and researchers, including several Nobel laureates, at schools ranging from the University of Maryland and the California Insitute of Technology to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT and many other have explained that,

it is now clear that the CMS design is not an auction at all but an arbitrary pricing process.

The scholars further explained that the Medicare program violates the Administration’s regulatory principle’s set forth President Obama’s Executibe Order on regulatory reform,

From: Charleston Chronicle

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — “It has come to our attention that the government put out a competitive bid that may drastically effect a benefit for people that are diabetic and use their Medicare Insurance to help receive supplies for testing their blood sugar levels and staying healthy,” said John White, The National Association of Conservative Seniors (NAOCS) founder and president. “Our goal is to provide them information that will enhance these years, making it easier for them to focus on the things that matter most to them: their health, family, friends, faith and country.”

From: ABCNews4/Charleston

By Ava Wilhite

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — It’s business as usual at Atlantic Respiratory in West Ashley where machines are being repaired, oxygen tanks are stacked and customer phones calls are being answered.

“We’ve had patients from other companies calling us. We’ve been inundated with calls from patients who are concerned that they’re not going to be able to stay with their current provider,” said T.J. Thompson, the president of Atlantic Respiratory Services.

She said on July 1, big changes could be coming to her company and other medical suppliers across the county.

From: Crain’s Detroit Business

By Jay Greene

Wright & Filippis Inc., a Rochester Hills-based medical supply company, has signed an agreement to sell its diabetic supply subsidiary by July 1 to Doral, Fla.-based US Med for an undisclosed price.

The sale, which will result in the layoffs of about 30 employees over the next 60 days, was expected after Wright & Filippis failed to receive a contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under Medicare’s new competitive bidding procedure.