Concern for Small, Local Companies
I’m concerned that small, local DME companies, who are already operating at the barely surviving level, will be forced out due to the bidding process, particularly in rural areas. CMS claims that this concern has been taken care of, but it seemed in the first flawed bidding process the large city areas like Los Angeles, etc. were so large that they overlapped into what are really rural areas of California which are actually hours removed from any DME supplier who might have been awarded contracts under the bidding process. Small, local DME companies with quick delivery to patients are the source of needed equipment which cannot be replaced by any large, so-called centrally located company who has won a bid because their volume buying allows them to bid lower than the small companies.
