Home Health & Hospice Week

The Obama administration's regulatory review hold on competitive bidding for durable medical equipment has come to naught, leaving suppliers stuck with a "deeply flawed" program, industry reps say.

In fact, the program will put 90 percent of suppliers out of business, AAHomecare predicts. Many of those are small businesses, the industry representative notes.

The reinstated interim final rule on bidding"does not alter the fundamental problems that precipitated the delay and need for reforming the program,"VGM contends.

Short-sighted: Besides restricting access for beneficiaries and closing down suppliers, the program will actually cost Medicare money by resulting in longer hospital stays, VGMargues. "The nation's home medical equipment and services sector provides a cost-effective alternative to expensive institutional care at hospitals and nursing homes and a solution for controlling spending growth in Medicare," VGM maintains.

AAHomecare wants CMS to pursue a customary notice and comment period for the rule instead of using the interim final rule that doesn't require comments. But the trade group is also seeking ways to eliminate the program altogether, it says.

Suppliers shouldn't have been too surprised to see the program's resumption, says Invacare Corp. on itsWeb site. "In our view, CMS did exactly what we predicted," it says.

The move is already garnering wide attention,with a profile in the Wall Street Journal among other news outlets.

Going ahead with the rule doesn't mean CMS will ignore industry comments, the agency insists in its release. For now, nothing will change for suppliers. "There will be no immediate effect on the Medicare DMEPOS benefit and Medicare beneficiaries may continue to use their current DMEPOS suppliers at this time," it notes.

CMS will issue further guidance and deadlines for the program in coming weeks. "In finalizing these guidelines, CMS will continue to seek input from all affected stakeholders to ensure program implementation consistent with the legislative requirements," the agency promises.

Another chance: "We believe CMS will take no further action on implementing the bid program until it has completed its review of all the comments to date," Invacare concludes. "We believe CMS will continue its dialogue with all stakeholders, including beneficiaries, physicians, industry, and other interested parties. This will allow the incoming Obama administration team at HHS and CMS to review the IFR which was first developed by the Bush administration."