Apparent No Go on Early Release of Bidder Names; Sebelius to Look into Bidding Concerns

WASHINGTON — At press time, there had been no response to a request from 136 members of the House of Representatives calling on CMS to release the names of providers whose bids were used to calculate the Round 1 competitive bidding payment rates.

And according to a CMS official on an Open Door call Wednesday, there may not be.

"Are you still on schedule to make those announcements sometime in September?" asked Apria Healthcare's Kimberlie Rogers-Bowers about the release of bid winners.

"I really can't comment on that right now," replied CMS' Lorrie Ballantine. "We are in the contracting process … it's forthcoming."

While CMS has said it would announce the bid winners in September, HME stakeholders have pointed out that may not help much: If the agency waits until late in the month to reveal the names, the industry will have only a short time to respond before Congress adjourns until after the November general election. What's more, that list will only reveal those bidders who have accepted contracts, not those who were offered contracts and whose bids were used to formulate the single payment amounts.

Ballantine did say that "after the dust settles and the contracting is done, we will have calls with contract suppliers and not contract suppliers as we did in the first round."

But House members don't want to wait until then to be able to analyze the contracting results, according to their Aug. 11 request.

"Without knowing the identity as well as the appropriate overall qualifications of these providers, we cannot evaluate the program's impact in terms of quality and access to care for seniors we represent," read their letter, which was sent to newly appointed CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick.

"Given the concerns with this process in the past, we seek this information now in order to evaluate the Round 1 rebid in an open and transparent manner," the representatives wrote.

They had asked for the list of names by Aug. 20.

According to Tyler Wilson, president of the American Association for Homecare, "If CMS delays the release of information until fall, it will impede the ability to assess the impact of the bidding program on Medicare patients.

"One of our concerns is that providers who submitted low, desperation bids out of their perceived need to remain a Medicare supplier could well determine the government's reimbursement rates — even if those companies ultimately declined to actually provide the equipment at those rates."