Washington
Echoing concerns voiced by other industry advocates, the Advanced Medical Technology Association has told CMS that it is concerned the agency is rushing work on Medicare DME competitive bidding, and it fears that attempting to implement the program in January 2007 could be “counterproductive.”
In a Dec. 2 letter, AdvaMed Senior Executive Vice President David Nexon said his biggest worry is that the proposed rule on competitive bidding — originally expected to be released in the spring of 2005 — has yet to be published.
“We continue to be concerned that if CMS rushes to the finish line to implement the competitive bidding program, there will be increased potential for beneficiary and provider confusion, reduced beneficiary access to critical health care services and unnecessary disruption of the DME marketplace,” Nexon wrote to Herb Kuhn, director of CMS' Center for Medicare Management.
Nexon said he believes that the Medicare Modernization Act, which mandated DME competitive bidding, gives CMS the flexibility to begin the program any time during 2007, and urged the agency to slow down.
