Industry Standards

One of the platforms I have preached for many years is that there are far too few standards for products offered to Medicare beneficiaries. The price CMS pays to DME dealers usually is the same for a quality walker as it is for a cheap knockoff. Invariably, the knockoff may look the same as the quality unit, but that is normally as far as it goes. The knockoffs often break down, and many do not have the same life expectancy as the quality items. Can you compare a walker that may cost the dealer $50 (or more) with one that is sold to him for $15 or less? We need standards, and they should be strict and enforceable.

To push for standards, I recommend that every dealer belong to the American Association for Homecare as well as to their state DME association. These organizations make your voice heard, but they need your support.

Competitive Bidding

I have been carefully studying some of the changes coming down the pike with Medicare reform, particularly regarding competitive bidding.

I have been against competitive bidding since its inception. All competitive bidding really does is limit where a beneficiary can go for supplies and force many smaller dealers out of the system. Our government has always espoused free enterprise, and a competitive bid is certainly not that.

As things stand now, the top 10 metropolitan areas are scheduled for competitive bidding to begin in 2007, with 80 metropolitan areas to be included after that. What frightens me is that eventually the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can use the results of these projects to create a new reimbursement schedule throughout the country. The bids will be run in three-year cycles, and then those dealers who have been losers can enter the competition again. But how many of them will be left?

The Young Generation

I hear much talk about the next few generations — how the one following the baby boomers will be the first not to earn more, or a least the same, as their parents. Some people say they have no inkling about what is happening politically. They point to use of drugs, a lack of responsibility and every other fault imaginable. Well, I take exception.

This morning I watched a few young teenagers who live in my subdivision walking to the school bus stop. Their sneakers looked so large that I wondered how they could lift their feet. Their jeans were so baggy that I thought if one of them sneezed, their pants would fall below their knees.