Competitive Bidding For Medical Equipment
The implementation of cost-cutting rules for Medicare has been advanced by the Obama administration, allowing Medicare to use competitive bidding strategies to purchase medical equipment such as power wheelchairs and walkers. The administration said it supports competition among companies vying for the right to supply medical products such as oxygen to the homes of elderly patients. After complaints from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about excessively high medical equipment prices that can often have price tags that are thousands of dollars higher than advertised Web vendors, the administration elected to allow Medicare to choose several low bidding companies within a specific geographic location. Because this program will require the government to pay for medical equipment from only approved suppliers, it has the potential to save the government $1 billion per year.
The new program was implemented despite last minute lobbying efforts by both Congress and the home-care industry. The White House received a total of 84 written requests from Congressional lawmakers requesting that the government drop the proposed plan. In addition, Congress received similar letters from 28 home-care agencies. In a news release, the groups claimed that the bidding program will result in decreased quality and limited access to care for both senior citizens and people with disabilities by forcing up to 90% of small business medical operators out of the market. Opponents of the plan claim that both CMS and senior citizens will be the ones to feel the brunt of the plan by cutting back on quality providers of medical equipment.
The plan, proposed in 2003 and later blocked by Congress was passed by President Obama who expressed a desire to do away with waste in the health care industry while improving the quality of health care for senior citizens. The plan will go into effect on 2011; however CMS will begin accepting bids in 2010.
