Providers make case against bid program at hearing
By HME News Staff
Updated Fri June 7, 2013
SEATTLE - Several providers testified about the potentially damaging consequences of Medicare's competitive bidding program at a recent regulatory fairness hearing hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to a press release from VGM & Associates. Those who testified voiced concerns that the program's lack of accountability encourages a “race to the bottom” regarding service and quality, and that beneficiaries are the ones who stand to suffer most, the release noted. Providers also argued that nearly half of small providers will go out of business, creating joblessness and patients “without their trusted caretakers and suppliers,” according to the release. “These hearings are great a great opportunity for independent providers to voice our frustrations and concerns to a federal agency and to educate the public that they will likely lose their small, local provider in favor of a national company that is hundreds of miles away,” stated Ryan Ball, director of state policy at VGM & Associates.
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