Sen George Voinovich (R-Ohio) [pictured] along with several other republican lawmakers, is working to urge HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt to address problems with round one of competitive bidding. Industry advocates hope the latest flurry of activity will create a critical mass of pressure to delay or re-address the round one problems. “Based on conversations with the Senate offices that sent other letters to CMS, and statements from the agency recently, there are currently no plans to delay implementation of Round 1 of competitive bidding,” confirmed Seth Johnson [picture, left], vice president of government affairs at Pride Mobility Products Corp.  “However, I am not surprised since CMS typically does not delay their time frames until much closer to the implementation date. I remain very confident that if the noise level remains high and more political pressure is applied on Secretary Leavitt from key legislators and senior administration officials, a delay in implementation will occur, but our advocacy efforts need to continue in earnest to make that happen.”

Despite a continuing outcry over the last two weeks, CMS is still on track to proceed with round one of competitive bidding for the first 10 MSAs, with contracts in effect on July 1, 2008. “CMS has not flinched, and I don’t have a clue what will ultimately happen,” says Georgie Blackburn, vice president of government relations for Blackburn’s, Tarentum, Pa. “Hopefully, we’ll get congressional action before July 1. AAHomecare has just scheduled a Washington, DC fly-in for May 21. The final supplier lists for all CBAs should be published by then, and we’ll be able to point out some blatant problems—again. CMS must be made to address the more than 100 erroneous disqualifications, the fact that there are winners in various CBAs that are not experienced in serving the complex rehab population, or may not have an ATS on staff—and that across CBAs there’s an identical allowable for a key power product—a mathematical improbability…and that we had seriously flawed methodology in this project as illustrated by two independent studies.”

While advocates certainly want the delay, they warn that merely putting off competitive bidding is not the only goal. “The second part of the strategy is to ensure that meaningful reforms are made to the program,” says Walt Gorski [pictured, right], vice president of government affairs for AAHomecare. “This will ensure that CMS does a thorough analysis on the impact of this program. It is an uphill battle. CMS continues to not be phased by the issues that have been raised with round one and quite frankly is saying, ‘we’re moving forward with round two and step out of the way.’”

AAHomecare is still reviewing legal options, but so far no decision has been made on that front. Other issues with power mobility and oxygen are also in play, and Gorski makes it a point to also focus on these matters. “The oxygen cap goes into effect on January 1. Transfer of ownership starts going into effect. We have efforts to lower the payment rates for oxygen equipment,” says Gorski. “It is a scary time for all providers. There is a sense of urgency for round one, but the impact is not far off for everyone. We have round one in effect on July 1, 2008, and round two bidding will start in the next quarter. And starting January 1, 2009, CMS can apply bid rates in non-bid areas. If you think you are secure, that is not the case.”