CMS seeks competitive bidding advisory group

June 1, 2004 WASHINGTON - CMS is scheduled to publish tomorrow (June 2) in the Federal Register a notice requesting nominations for individuals to serve on the Program Advisory Oversight Committee that will advise Medicare on the Competitive Acquisition Program for durable medical equipment and certain other items and services under the Medicare program.   Applications for the 12 to 15-member panel will be accepted through 5:00 PM (EST) on June 28, 2004. Nominees should possess knowledge, experience, and expertise in DME, prosthetics, orthotics, supplies (DMEPOS) and/or competitive bidding. Committee membership will be comprised of the following broad categories: - Beneficiary/consumer representatives - Physicians and other health care providers - Manufacturers - Suppliers - Professional standards organizations - Financial standards specialists - Data management specialists - Association representatives. - Experts in shipping fragile medical materials.  Individuals interested in obtaining more information on the goals of the committee, nominee qualifications, how to apply and where to submit application should contact CMS' Web site on June 2 at www.cms.hhs.gov/providerupdate. Section 302(b)(1) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) (Pub. L. 108-173), requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to replace the current DME payment methodology for certain items with a competitive acquisition process to improve the effectiveness of Medicare's methodology for setting DME payment amounts.   This new bidding process will establish payment for certain durable medical equipment, enteral nutrition, and off-the-shelf orthotics.  In addition, the statute requires the secretary to establish and administer a Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) that will provide advice on the development and implementation of the Competitive Acquisition Program.