Called the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Access Act of 2005, or H.R. 3559, the bill would:
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require that competitive bidding not be implemented until supplier quality standards are in place;
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exempt small rural (under 500,000) MSAs;
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allow all qualified providers that are small businesses and that submitted a bid below the current allowable to participate at the selected award price;
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restore the right of providers participating in the program to administrative and judicial review;
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exempt items and services from bidding unless savings of at least 10 percent can be demonstrated, compared to the fee schedule in effect Jan. 1, 2006;
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protect beneficiary access to care by requiring CMS to conduct a comparability analysis for areas that are not competitively bid to ensure the rate is appropriate to costs and does not reduce access to care; and
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subject the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee — a 22-member industry panel charged with advising CMS on implementing the program — to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires public access to meetings and proceedings.
View the full text of the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov.
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