Report: CB a bureaucratic nightmare
By HME News Staff
Updated Wed July 31, 2002
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Implementing a national Medicare competitive bidding program for medical equipment, services and technology will require a 35% increase in the CMS workforce, creating an expansive bureaucracy that "will threaten the well being of Medicare beneficiaries, " states a new report released last month.
The report, "Regulatory Mandates Imposed Under the New Medicare Competitive Bidding Program - Section 511 of the Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2002 (H.R. 4954)" was prepared for the new Coalition for Access to Medical Services, Equipment and Technology (CAMSET) by Multinational Business Services Inc.(See story page 4).
"This reports shows that Congress and CMS will surely experience migraines trying to figure out how to structure the program," said Tom Connaughton, president and CEO of the AAHomecare.
The report states that a national competitive bidding program, such as the one passed in H.R. 4954, would require CMS to hire 1,626 additional full-time employees. CMS's current workforce is approximately 4,630. HME
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