What Would You Tell Kerry Weems?

At the time our staff planned HomeCare's editorial calendar for 2008, we decided it would be beneficial to present information from their peers that might help home medical equipment providers contemplating round two of national competitive bidding.

Who knew when it came time to field our competitive bidding survey in April, particularly considering the impending July 1 implementation date for round one, CMS would have disqualified 630 of the 1,005 bidders and would not yet have announced the contract winners? Who knew the zip codes that define the round two competitive bidding areas would not have been released, or that the agency would extend the deadline for accreditation application for round two participation?

Ah, well, in spite of the changes and the information they were missing, 395 providers shared their thoughts about competitive bidding — about round one, about round two and about their company strategies moving forward. Their responses to the survey questions, compiled on the following pages, speak for themselves.

We also asked participants to answer this question: If you could talk directly to acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems, what would you tell him about Medicare's DMEPOS competitive bidding program?

Almost 300 providers took the time to pen thoughtful answers that show their frustration with the bidding program, their worries about their businesses and their concern for Medicare patients. A representative sample of their answers, which also speak for themselves, are printed in this section.

Survey Fast Stats

• About Payment Rates and Contracts

  Fifteen percent of respondents operate in one or more of the 10 MSAs in round one of competitive bidding, and 35% operate in one or more of the 70 MSAs designated for round two. Fourteen percent operate in both a round one and a round two MSA. Among respondents with 10 or more locations, 80% operate in one or more current or future bidding areas.

• Half of respondents plan to bid in round two. Among these, 72% indicate their company is currently accredited, 20% have applied for accreditation and 8% had plans to meet the May 14, 2008, deadline for accreditation application. (The survey was fielded and results taken before CMS extended the accreditation application deadline for round two.)

• Among respondents who said they will bid in round two, 41% began planning two or more years ago, 36% have been planning to bid for one year or less and 23% began planning when the round two MSAs were announced.