Headline News

Government Brings in Power Players for Competitive Bid Hearing









      
Sep 14, 2010 - 4:18 pm

  
  


	

	

WASHINGTON — The government is bringing in a power panel
of witnesses to defend Medicare's competitive bidding program at a
congressional
hearing scheduled Sept. 15.


Called by the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, the hearing will "examine the conception and
implementation of the competitive bidding program, the
implementation of the Round 1 re-bid, and its potential effects on
patients, providers, and suppliers," according to a notice.


A list of invited witnesses posted Monday includes for the
government:


    

  • Laurence Wilson, director of the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services' Chronic Care Policy Group;
    • 

  • Inspector General Daniel Levinson from the Department of Health
and Human Services' Office of Inspector General; and
    • 

  • Kathleen King, director, Health Care, Government Accountability
Office.
    • 



A second panel of witnesses representing various interests
includes:


    

  • Richard Lerner, president of Allcare Medical in Old Bridge,
N.J., who will testify on behalf of the HME industry as a
representative of the American Association for Homecare and the
Jersey Association of Medical Equipment Services (see Allcare
Medical to Testify at House Bid Hearing);
    • 

  • Alfred Chiplin, managing attorney, Center for Medicare
Advocacy;
    • 

  • Nancy Schlichting, president and CEO, Henry Ford Health System;
and
    • 

  • William Scanlon, a health policy consultant. A commissioner on
the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care, Scanlon is a
member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and co-chairs
the HHS Review Panel for the Medicare Trustees Reports. He has
previously served as managing director of health care issues at the
GAO.
    • 



An update from the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of
America calls the latter three "wild cards."


Chiplin's testimony "will probably be identical to what the
witnesses from Medicare, the Government Accountability Office and
the Office of the Inspector General will say," according to the
group, which believes Scanlon will also side with his colleagues
from CMS, OIG and GAO.


Schlichting, AMEPA said, "could discuss how the program will
make it nearly impossible to discharge patients from hospitals.
However it is anticipated that she will be pushing H.R. 6065, the
bill from Michigan Congressman John Dingell to exclude
hospital-based DME providers from the bidding program."
	


			
	

  


  

    

          
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