Tag: Round 2 Recompete
Hometown Medical beats the blues
October 21, 2016Tracy Orzel
SAN JOSE, Calif. - While some providers say the competitive bidding program has hurt their ability to provide quality patient service, Ryan Sampson, operations manager at Hometown Medical Supplies, says he's had the opposite experience.
“A lot of companies are concerned about the reimbursement cuts and the level of service they're able to provide to patients,” he said. “We're actually seeing the inverse of that, in that we're able to have a closer relationship...
CBIC starts dialing
August 3, 2016HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - The Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor has kicked off “secret shopper” calls to HME providers with Round 2 re-compete bid contracts, according to VGM. The CBIC uses the calls to make sure contract suppliers are serving beneficiaries. Previous rounds of these calls have resulted in termination letters. If a provider receives such a letter, they have an opportunity to submit a correction action plan and/or appeal the termination. So far, there have been no termination...
KCI fights for bid contracts
June 21, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
SAN ANTONIO - With just weeks remaining before the July 1 implementation of Round 2 re-compete contracts, KCI was still in talks with CMS to reconsider its bids for negative pressure wound therapy.
“We are in discussions with CMS regarding the reconsideration of our bids,” Cheston Turbyfill, vice president of corporate communications for Acelity, KCI's parent company, told HME News. “We don't have a timeframe.”
In a May 19 letter to customers, the company said...
Hoveround absent from re-compete
May 20, 2016Tracy Orzel
SARASOTA, Fla. - As industry stakeholders continue to pore over the list of Round 2 re-compete contract suppliers, one well-known name missing from the list is Hoveround.
In previous rounds of the program, the provider accepted multiple contracts for standard wheelchairs, including contracts in 85% of the competitive bidding areas in the original Round 2; and contracts in all of the Round 1 re-compete areas.
The low reimbursement rates in the Round 2 re-compete—on average, mobility providers...
Deja vu: Concerns resurface in Round 2 re-compete
April 29, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders have begun the monumental task of analyzing the newest competitive bid contract suppliers.
“We're trying to get a feel for who won the most contracts in what product categories,” said Kim Brummett, vice president of regulatory affairs for AAHomecare.“One of the things we are looking at, since the pricing was lower, are they mostly the big nationals or are we still dealing with mom and pops that won hundreds of contracts.”
CMS named...
CMS awards 586 contracts in latest round of bidding
April 28, 2016HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - CMS named the contract suppliers for the Round 2 re-compete of competitive bidding at 5:02 p.m. on Thursday.
CMS says it has executed 586 contracts, 91% of those offered, for seven product categories. The contract providers have 2,200 locations to serve Medicare beneficiaries in competitive bidding areas.
The agency also awarded nine contracts, 100% of those offered, for diabetes supplies as part of its national mail-order program.
CMS says 92% of contract suppliers are...
Doing the contract limbo
April 25, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
“Hey, Theresa, any idea who won contracts?” asked more than a few providers in recent emails.
That, my friends, is the question of the day.
And the answer so far is no, for the most part. Two notable exceptions: Aeroflow Healthcare, which has received 645 contract offers for 108 CBAs; and Rotech Healthcare, which has received contract offers for general HME and standard mobility for all 117 CBAs and respiratory equipment in 116 CBAs.
Oh, and Inogen also made a big sweep—it...
Bid bill has sticking point in the House
April 15, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
WASHINGTON - One month after the introduction of a Senate bill to delay competitive bidding cuts, industry stakeholders are still working to get a Democratic co-sponsor for a House companion bill.The sticking point: The bill's “pay-for,” which would speed up plans to limit federal Medicaid reimbursement for DME to the Medicare payment rates from Jan. 1, 2019, to Oct. 1, 2018.“There's a concern that, from a policy standpoint, we don't want a pay-for that affects the senior or disability...
NewsPoll: Are bid contracts 'worth it'?
April 15, 2016Tracy Orzel
YARMOUTH, Maine - Respondents to a recent HME NewsPoll are split over whether accepting a competitive bidding contract from Medicare is a good idea.Fifty-four percent of respondents said that, in general, they did not accept the majority of the contracts they were offered, while 32% said they accepted a contract the first time around, but not the second.One reason: “(It's) not worth it,” said Jill Duda, business operations manager at Philadelphia-based Flagship Medical, of the decrease...
Pricing for test strips takes a dive, but where is the reaction?
April 1, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
There's been a lot of chatter over the past two weeks about the new Round 2 re-compete payment amounts. With seemingly a gazillion different HCPCS codes with their corresponding prices (per region), folks have been burning up their calculators to crunch the numbers, I'm sure.
Except for one product category: mail-order diabetes, which was delightfully simple to parse, what with it being one national price for each of eight codes.
So, my scientific analysis (which consisted of printing off a hard...