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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Note:

DME Bidding Doesn't Harm Benes, CMS Maintains

Published on Wed Jun 08, 2011

Durable medical equipment suppliers may see more competitive bidding in their future. Based on a Government Accountability Office analysis of DME manufacturer competitive bidding, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is urging CMS to consider testing the program. "I requested this report because it's always seemed to me that we could get a better deal by going right to manufacturers, just like the federal government does today when they buy vehicles," Stark says in a release. "This GAO report shows that additional savings may be possible, while still ensuring quality and access to care." CMS would have to consider setting up a separate payment system to reimburse DME suppliers for their services instead of equipment under the system, the GAO notes in its report at www.gao.gov/new.items/d11337r.pdf. Meanwhile, CMS has released "health outcomes results" from the first quarter of DME competitive bidding in nine areas [...]
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