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Bidding is Now Open for the Round 1 Recompete of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program
From: CMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is now soliciting bids for the Round 1 Recompete of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program.
All bids must be submitted in DBidS, the online bidding system, before 9:00 p.m. prevailing Eastern Time on December 14, 2012. All required hardcopy documents that must be included as part of the bid package must be RECEIVED by the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) on or before December 14, 2012. The contract period for the Round 1 Recompete is January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2016.
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Enact H.R.6490 “Medicare DMEPOS Market Pricing Program Act” – OMB Refuses to Enforce the Paperwork Reduction Act
The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) has provided OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) with massive and uncontradicted evidence demonstrating that the CMS competitive bidding program violated the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), see our comments to OMB here, our comments to CMS here, a peer reviewed analysis of the CMS program by CalTech researchers here, and a letter from over 240 economists to White House condemning the program here.
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Speculation rife on Round 2 announcement
From: HME News
If the HME industry had a collective water cooler to gather around, it’s likely the main topic of conversation would be Round 2 payment amounts.
“This is too tight a secret with CMS,” said Walt Gorski, vice president of government affairs for AAHomecare.
CMS has said only that it will announce the payment amounts sometime this fall and speculation is rampant about when that might be. The agency is obviously working on it. CMS recently sent bona fide letters to bidders in the mail order diabetes category, and providers had until Oct. 9 to respond.
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OIG work plan includes several new reviews for DME
Editor’s Note: The OIG FY 2013 Work Plan is attached here.
From: HME News
WASHINGTON – What durable medical equipment will bear the brunt of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG’s) scrutiny next year? Diabetes supplies.
The OIG, which released its work plan for 2013 on Oct. 3, has four reviews planned for this product category, including one new review related to competitive bidding:
1. A review that will focus on supplier compliance with payment requirements for blood glucose test strips and lancets (The LCDs require that the physician’s order for each item billed include certain elements and be retained by the supplier);
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Industry leaders urge swift action
From: HME News
by: Liz Beaulieu
WASHINGTON – It’s do or die; it’s make or break; it’s now or never. Any of these sayings aptly describe the recently introduced bill to replace competitive bidding with a market-pricing program (MPP), industry stakeholders say.
“This is by far the best opportunity we’ve had and, in many ways, the last opportunity we’ll have,” said Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of NAIMES. “If we don’t succeed, Round 2 will go forward and it will be too late for many, many providers.”
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Now Available: New Webcast for Round 1 Recompete Bidders
From: CMS
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Bidding Suppliers: Time is Running Out to Register for DMEPOS Competitive Bidding
From: CMS
If you are a supplier interested in participating in the Round 1 Recompete of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program and have registered an authorized official (AO) but not a backup authorized official (BAO), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) strongly recommends that a BAO register no later than Friday, September 28, 2012.
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Summit recharges providers
From: HME News
by: Liz Beaulieu
PITTSBURGH – Several speakers at last week’s HME News Business Summit had the same take-home message for providers: “This is your time.”
Everette James, who kicked off the event, encouraged providers to view themselves and present themselves as “disrupters”—a driving force in making the current healthcare system more affordable.
“This should be your time, if you can figure out a little thing called reimbursement,” said James, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh, and director of its Health Policy Institute. “There’s a recognition that people want to be at home and you can deliver care there less expensively—those are the things that I’d be driving home.”
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Peter Cramton: Medicare Auction Gadfly
From: Freakonomics Blog
Ian Ayres
My friend and co-author Peter Cramton continues his two-year crusade to improve the workings of “Medicare’s Bizarre Auction Program.” You can watch his YouTube testimony before the United States House Committee on Small Business here:
(See also his Oral Testimony, Transcript of Hearing, Video of Entire Hearing.)
Peter’s supplemental comments are particularly devastating in rebutting two claims of Lawrence Wilson, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director of the Chronic Care Group:
CMS [claim]: “CMS worked closely with stakeholders to design and implement the program.”
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The Campaign for HME
From: Home Care Magazine
Industry experts provide pointers on becoming an HME political advocate
by Dave Parks
HME providers face a delicate task this election season. Amid intense partisanship, they must educate politicians of all ideologies about the value home medical equipment brings to the government, along with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. A fix for competitive bidding remains the most important message to deliver, but that is a complex issue requiring thoughtful communication skills.