Blog entries

02/02/12 - Completing DBIDS, a little different than Round One

Rob Brant — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:55:59 +0100

Providers in Round 2 have reported little difficulty with bidding since the system opened on Monday.

One positive change from Round One is that in Form B, Round 2 does not require a total category break down of the Total Patients, Medicare Patients, Total Revenue, Medicare Revenue and Percentage of Revenue that was Medicare. Perhaps it was clear that this information was not used to select contracted suppliers in Round One.

As for problems navigating the DBIDS system, some wRead More...

02/02/12 - MEMBERS ONLY Bidding Webinar Update

Rob Brant — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:50:59 +0100

Rob Brant will be hosting a one hour webinar covering specific aspects of the Round 2 Bid.

The webinar will review requirements of the bid requested by members, specifically about Form A & Form B, now that Round 2 bidding has opened.

The top HCPCS codes for utilization, make and model numbers

Current Plan and Expansion Plan Staff, Finances, Facilities, Inventory Control, Distribution and Additional Information

Making sense of Bid Weights A review of how bRead More...

01/19/12 - NPWT providers question bid inclusion, as less than 5 exist in many CBAs

Rob Brant — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:09:30 +0100

The Final Rule for the DMEPOS Bidding Program, states that capacity will be limited to 20% to award contracts to at least 5 suppliers per product category. But what if there are already less than 5 suppliers in the Bidding Areas?

This is not a hypothetical question, as several Bidding Areas in Round Two currently have less than 5 suppliers currently listed on the Medicare.gov website as providers of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) pumps and supplies.

01/24/12 - CBIC Ombudsman answers Credit Report questions

Rob Brant — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:43:36 +0100

Today the CBIC Ombudsman replied to an email asking questions about the Credit Report requirements. Her answers are in blue.

Dear Ms. Hensley,

The RFB for Round 2 has a change in the requirement. The Round 1 Re-bid stated "Suppliers should submit a copy of a credit report that was completed within 90 days prior to the date on which the supplier submits its bid." The Round 2 RFB states that the Credit Report must be prepared within 90 days PRIOR to the opening of the bid windowRead More...

01/23/12 - Cramton's full report shows Round 1 contracted suppliers are not providing any DME

Rob Brant — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:26:21 +0100

Cramton's full report shows in some CBAs, 48% of contracted suppliers have not provided any utilization

Commentary by Rob Brant

Today, Professor Peter Cramton from the University of Maryland published a 165 page report on his website: "The Hidden Costs of a Flawed Medicare Auction".

The graphs are astounding and I was able to share some of them this past December with Health Policy staff of influential legislators serving on the Senate and House HRead More...

01/27/12 - Can boycotting services change minds in Washington? Ask Wikipedia

Rob Brant — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:46:41 +0100

On January 18th, some of the internet's largest companies united to stop the House bill "Stop Online Privacy Act" (SOPA) and the Senate bill Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) by suspending their services.

According to a report, 162 million people experienced the blackout on the online encyclopedia's home page. In addition, 8 million U.S. readers took Wikipedia's suggestion and looked up their congressional reps from their site.

The social news website reddRead More...

01/13/12 - CBIC announces "Program Rules" webcast

Rob Brant — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:16:44 +0100

From the CBIC

A new educational webcast for the Round 2 and national mail-order competitions of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program is now available on the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website at www.DMECompetitiveBid.com. This webcast, titled "Program Rules," explains important rules detailed in the "Request for Bids (RFB) Instructions" that you should understand before you preRead More...

01/13/12 - TODAY: MEMBERS ONLY Bidding Webinar

Rob Brant — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:12:18 +0100

Thursday, January 19th, 2:00PM ET

Rob Brant will be hosting a one hour webinar covering specific aspects of the Round 2 Bid. This will NOT be a legislative update and will NOT be a review of basic information already published on the CBIC website.

The webinar will review requirements of the bid requested by members, specifically about Form A & Form B, so they can begin bid preparation.

Utilization History
Revenue from Product Category
Customers Served
Past unitRead More...

12/20/11 - TODAY: Tuesday, December 20th MEMBERS ONLY Bidding Webinar 2:00PM ET (1PM CT, 12PM ...

Rob Brant — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:28:23 +0100

Rob Brant will be hosting a one hour webinar covering specific aspects of the Round 2 Bid. This will NOT be a legislative update and will NOT be a review of basic information already published on the CBIC website.

The webinar will review requirements of the bid requested by members, specifically about Form B, so they can begin bid preparation.

Utilization History

Revenue from Product Category
Customers Served
Past units provided (MRead More...

12/20/11 - House pushes 1 year "Doc Fix" Vote expected today.

Rob Brant — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:26:27 +0100

Multiple media outlets are reporting that leadership in the House of Representatives delayed a Monday night vote on the controversial Payroll Tax Extension Bill, which will also delay the enforcement of a January 1st, 27% cut to physician fees.

This past weekend, the Senate passed their version of the bill, which would delay the "Doc Fix" for 2 months. The House is pushing for a one year "Doc Fix". This type of "must pass" healthcare legislation is the perfectRead More...

12/20/11 - House GOP to vote Tuesday on tax conference with Senate

Rob Brant — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:18:36 +0100

By Erik Wasson, Russell Berman and Molly K. Hooper
TheHill.com - 12/19/11 10:44 PM ET

House Republicans plan to vote at midday Tuesday on a measure to go to conference with the Senate on the payroll tax holiday.

The House adopted this action after delaying a planned vote on the payroll tax holiday approved by the Senate that could have taken place very early Tuesday morning.

The party whip, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), attributed the delay Read More...

11/07/11 - Galen Institute to Super Committee: Stop "so called" Competitive Bidding

Rob Brant — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:30:00 +0100

Grace-Marie Turner, President and founder of the Galen Institute, published a commentary in the Huffington Post Friday, asking the Super Committee to "work on reforms that will grow over time and reduce the future flood of red ink driven by uncontrolled entitlement spending."

The two page commentary offered suggestions about reforming Medicare, from the Part D Drug benefit to stopping the "so-called" competitive bidding program in DME.

Turner wrote:

The CommitRead More...

11/07/11 - Patient Advocacy Line introduced at Medtrade

Rob Brant — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Atlanta, GA - Earlier this week, the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America introduced a Patient Advocacy Line at Medtrade. Referred to as "PAL", the Patient Advocacy Line is a toll free way for patients and caregivers to speak to legislators about their need for quality home medical equipment and timely services.

For years the industry asked for patients to contact their legislators about important Home Medical Equipment issues by calling the Capital Hill SwitRead More...

10/07/11 - Miami DME closures maybe catalyst for new support on HR-1041

Rob Brant — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Repeal Bill up to 157 cosponsors

Today, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-Miami Gardens, FL) was added to the growing list of cosponsors on HR-1041, the bill to repeal Medicare's flawed DME bidding program. Wilson replaced Congressman Kendrick Meek, who introduced HR-3790 in the 111th Congress.

Earlier in the week, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Pembroke Pines, FL), whose 20th District also covers North Miami-Dade and South Broward counties, also cosponsored the bRead More...

10/05/11 - Atlanta providers meet with Congressman Woodall

Rob Brant — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Last week during the Congressional recess, GAMES members scheduled a meeting with Congressman Rob Woodall (R-GA), representing Georgia 7th District. Woodall's district office is located in Lawrenceville and is part of the 24 county Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta bidding

GAMES Executive Director Teresa Tatum arranged the meeting which was also attended by constituent Todd Tyson, Scott Lloyd, Tom Forkner and AMEPA's Rob Brant.

The congressman was very knowlRead More...

09/29/11 - Bidding Without Boundaries: 54% of Round 2 States are without licensure

Rob Brant — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

The most startling fact for DME owners preparing to Bid in Round 2 is that they are not just bidding against their local competitors, but they are bidding against out of state providers as well.

When AMEPA's Rob Brant presented to providers in Portland, Oregon, he used a simple analogy to describe their fate. "Since Oregon has no state licensure for DME, bidders who send in low ball bids from Portland, Maine will likely win bids over those located here in the PortlaRead More...

09/16/11 - Maryland DME Licensure may pose problems for D.C. and Philadelphia bidders

Rob Brant — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Eileen Lacijan, RN, BSN, MS, Health Facility Surveyor Nurse for Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene began to contemplate the sheer size of the problem before she answered questions about out of state DME suppliers applying for state licensure for the upcoming DME Bid.

The idea of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia DME providers scrambling to get a Maryland DME license in order to bid, seemed a little odd.

AMEPA's Rob Brant and Seth JoRead More...

08/12/11 - TEXAS - HME Competitive Bidding Meetings

Rob Brant — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Tuesday, August 16th in Austin Wednesday, August 17th in San Antonio Thursday, August 18th in Houston

90% of area Medicare providers will lose the ability to serve beneficiaries
Reimbursement cuts of over 32% can be implemented throughout Texas
Texas Medicaid and other Insurance companies will replicate Medicare Cuts
Thousands of dollars and hundreds of your hours will be wasted on a flawed process

FREE Seminar - Learn how you will be affected and GET INVOLVED

07/15/11 - CALIFORNIA - HME Competitive Bidding Meetings

Rob Brant — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:44:05 +0100

Medicare HME Providers will likely soon have to begin the bidding process in the states largest metropolitan areas

90% of area Medicare providers will lose the ability to serve beneficiaries
Reimbursement cuts of over 32% can be implemented throughout California
Medi-Cal and California insurance companies will replicate Medicare Cuts
Thousands of dollars and hundreds of your hours will be wasted on a flawed process

FREE Seminar - Learn how you will be affected anRead More...

08/07/11 - AMEPA to lead meetings for HR-1041 in California, Oregon and Washington

Rob Brant — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:56:06 +0100

In order to assist the industry gain support for HR-1041, the bill to repeal Medicare’s flawed bidding program, the Board of AMEPA is coordinating In District Meetings in the largest Round 2 areas of California, Oregon and Washington.

AMEPA has scheduled 8 meetings in the largest announced Competitive Bidding Areas on the West Coast over the last 2 weeks in July, the rallies will begin July 18th in San Diego and conclude July 29th in Seattle.

During a memRead More...