Home Health & Hospice Week

Bidding advisory committee nominations due by July. Durable medical equipment suppliers may be one step closer to the disastrous competitive bidding program lawmakers passed last year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has called for nominations to its Program Oversight Advisory Committee for the bidding process outlined in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. The 12- to 15-member committee will advise CMS on the "competitive acquisition" program, including these topics, CMS says in its June 2 Federal Register notice: The implementation of the Competitive Acquisition Program. Financial standards that take into account the needs of small providers. Data collection requirements for efficient management of the program. The development of proposals for efficient interaction among manufacturers, providers of services, suppliers and individuals. The establishment of quality standards. The committee will consist of suppliers, beneficiary representatives, physicians and other health care providers, manufacturers, "professional standards organizations," financial specialists, data management specialists, trade association representatives and "experts in shipping fragile medical materials," CMS says in a release.

"We have particular interest in individuals with ... experience in furnishing services and items in the rural and the urban marketplace" and in entities with prior DME competitive bidding experience, CMS says in the Federal Register notice. The committee, which will stand until the end of 2009, will meet every two months for the first year and quarterly thereafter, CMS expects. Bidding for certain DME items, enteral nutrition and off-the-shelf orthotics will begin in 10 metropolitan statistical areas in 2007 and go nationwide after 2009 (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XII, No. 43). If the program goes forward as planned, it will wipe out the majority of the DME industry, experts warn (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XII, No. 42).

Editor's Note: More information on the committee, including instructions on how to apply, is at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a040602c.html. CMS will accept applications through July 2.