VGM testifies at small business hearing
By HME News Staff
Updated Fri June 21, 2013
DAVENPORT, Iowa - Ryan Ball, director of state policy at VGM & Associates, voiced concerns about Medicare's competitive bidding program and its negative impact on small providers at a Small Business Administration (SBA) regulatory fairness hearing today (June 21). In the testimony, Ball zeroed in on how the program favors larger providers that can submit lower bids and pinches smaller businesses out of the market. “Small, independent providers cannot sustain a 45% cut to reimbursement levels, nor can they remain in business without access to the largest demographic utilizing DME, seniors,” Ball testified. He also pointed to some of the broader economic ramifications of consolidation, citing a report that predicts the loss of 100,000 jobs if the current program is implemented nationwide. The latter half of Ball's testimony focused on an analysis conducted by VGM that found two-thirds of contract suppliers are located outside of states where they won bids and many suppliers have been awarded contracts even though they don't meet certain state licensure requirements.
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