Tag: round 1 re-compete

CHICAGO - Contract suppliers aren't making insulin pumps and replacement supplies available to Medicare beneficiaries in competitive bidding areas, says the American Association of Diabetes Educators. The AADE surveyed 29 suppliers in the nine initial CBAs to ask about the availability of specific brands and models of insulin pumps and supplies. Of those suppliers, only 17 (58%) reported carrying insulin pumps and only 18 (62%) reported carrying replacement supplies. Of those who offer insulin...

MATTHEWS, N.C. - As Carolina's Home Medical Equipment prepared for the Jan. 1 implementation of the Round 1 re-compete, President and CEO Frank Trammell took a few minutes to tell HME News what his company has done to remain viable in the competitive bidding market.HME News: What did you learn from Round 1 that helped you in the re-compete? What worked and what didn't? How did you prepare for this round?Frank Trammell: Understanding how each line item is weighted and how it impacts the composite...

TOLEDO, Ohio - Heartland IV Care has been awarded contracts to provide enteral care in all nine competitive bid areas included in the Round 1 re-compete, the company announced Dec. 3. The company was awarded 41 contracts in Round 2. Heartland IV operates in partnership with Heartland Home Health Care and Hospice, both part of the HCR ManorCare family. HCR ManorCare is a provider of home infusion, home health care and hospice services, as well as short-term post-acute and long-term care services....

WASHINGTON - Webinars on the Round 1 re-compete of competitive bidding have been scheduled for Dec. 9, Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, CMS has announced. Each lecture-style webinar is limited to 1,000 participants, and CMS asks each participant to register for only one session. Although questions will be taken, they will not be answered live, CMS says.

WASHINGTON - It's still early, but industry stakeholders are already hearing reports of licensure issues in the Round 1 re-compete.This time, however, it's licensed providers that say their bids were rejected because, according to the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC), they were not properly licensed.“We've just begun licensure analysis, but CMS seems to be making the same kind of mistakes,” said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Invacare....

WASHINGTON - Now that they have both the single payment amounts and the names of the contract suppliers for the Round 1 re-compete in hand, HME industry stakeholders are wasting no time analyzing the information.“Has CMS made the same kind of mistakes that it's made in the past?” said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Invacare. “Are there licensing issues, are there accreditation issues? Those are certainly things we are going to look at.”When...

WASHINGTON - HME providers say fear of being excluded from the Medicare program prompted the low reimbursement rates for the Round 1 re-compete. “It's the old bullet to the head or slow death question, and nobody wants a bullet to the head,” said Frank Trammell, president and CEO of Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolina's Home Medical, which was awarded contracts for respiratory, mobility and NPWT. “It's about staying in the game and hoping to make it up in volume.” CMS...

BALTIMORE - The average reduction in reimbursement for the Round 1 re-compete (37%) doesn't appear much worse than Round 1 (32%), but it's not that cut and dry, HME industry stakeholders say.It's only when you dive into some of the top codes within each product category and each competitive bidding area (CBA) that you get a true picture of the impact of the new reimbursement, they say.“The overall 37% figure can be deceiving,” said Kim Brummett, senior director of regulatory affairs for...

WASHINGTON - Now that fall has officially begun, the HME industry's collective eye has once again turned to the timeline for the Round 1 re-compete.“I suspect they will announce the bid amounts and the bid winners at the same time,” said John Gallagher, vice president of government relations for The VGM Group. “CMS will hit their Jan 1, 2014, target, but will it educate providers or beneficiaries? No. They haven't in the past, so why should we think it would be any different this...

BALTIMORE - CMS looks to be slowly working toward the Jan. 1 implementation date for the Round 1 re-compete. HME News has learned that some providers last week received bona fide letters asking them to provide supporting documentation to substantiate their bid amounts. CMS had planned to release the single payment amounts sometime in the spring and the names of the contract suppliers this fall. Meanwhile, stakeholders continue to lobby for H.R. 1717, which would replace competitive bidding with a...