The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Newspaper based in Fort Lauderdale, released an article this morning regarding the Competitive Bidding Program in DMEPOS.

Here are some Highlights:

This week, Medicare named the suppliers that won bids, including 80 in South Florida out of 800 that operate here. All 800,000 Medicare recipients in the area will get letters explaining the new system so they can line up new companies if necessary, Medicare Administrator Kerry Weems said.

"This is in plenty of time so they can make plans for acquiring their medical supplies," Weems said. "We're going to be on the ground" to help with the transition.
But the durable medical equipment industry has been lobbying Congress for a year trying to overturn the new system, saying:

The quality of durable medical supplies will fall if bid winners substitute cheaper goods to meet the lower bid prices. For example, diabetics may have to switch blood-testing devices.
Suppliers will cut service to make ends meet. For example, oxygen firms may deliver monthly instead of weekly.
Not enough suppliers will remain in the business, undercutting the goal of increased competition. For example, 46 firms will supply about 200,000 who use home oxygen.
"What happens if we have a hurricane, if half the companies can't do anything?" said Rob Brant, a Davie co-owner of an oxygen firm and president of the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America.
Peter Thomas, of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, urged a congressional panel to kill Medicare's "massive experiment [in which] individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions are the unwitting participants."
Of the 80 winning firms in South Florida, 18 are not even in the state. One in Niagara Falls, N.Y., has no required Florida license. A national wheelchair firm won six contracts here, including for home hospital beds and wound healing devices.
"They gave bid awards to big companies out of state who don't even do the line of work they got contracts to perform," said Lou Toscano, president of Medical Supply Depot in Delray Beach.
Ninety percent of existing suppliers did not win bids. Half were disqualified because of missing paperwork, including Toscano and Brant, who said Medicare lost forms from hundreds of companies. Without a contract, Brant said he may close his business of 11 years.

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