Tag: Competitive Bidding Expansion

YARMOUTH, Maine - If Medicare moves forward with plans to apply competitive bidding prices in remote areas of the country, providers there say they will have no choice but to stop accepting Medicare.“We have already come to the decision that if those numbers are put on us, we will stop taking Medicare,” said Paul Gammie, owner of Gammie Home Care, which has locations on the islands of Maui and Kauai in Hawaii. “We are already the last person standing on the island of Maui that's...

WASHINGTON - CMS on July 2 issued a proposed rule outlining how it plans to expand competitive bidding pricing nationwide and bundle payments for certain DME.CMS proposes expanding competitive bidding pricing by:. Adjusting fee schedule amounts for states in different regions of the country based on competitive bidding pricing from competitions in these regions. The regional prices would be limited by a national ceiling (110% of the average of regional prices) and floor (90% of the average of regional...

WASHINGTON - Four senators have signed a letter asking CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to stop expansion of competitive bidding until the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed its investigation of the program and Congress has had time to review the results. Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., have added their signatures to a letter written by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., who met with concerned providers in March. The letter is the first sign of Senate...

YARMOUTH, Maine - In its service area in Montana, Harrington Surgical Supply is often the only game in town.“We have a salesperson once a week in some towns,” said Dan Harrington, owner of Harrington Surgical Supply in Butte, Mont. “If we didn't come, then nobody would.”That's likely to get worse if CMS applies competitive bidding payment amounts nationwide, something it is required to do by 2016 under the Affordable Care Act. In February, CMS published an advance notice of...