In this issue

Bidding Webinar

AMEPA in Washington, DC

Forbes article

AMEPA NEWSLETTER

December 14, 2011

MEMBERS ONLY Bidding Webinar

Tuesday, December 20th, 2:00PM ET

Rob Brant will be hosting a one hour webinar covering specific aspects of the Round 2 Bid. This will NOT be a legislative update and will NOT be a review of basic information already published on the CBIC website.

The webinar will review requirements of the bid requested by members, specifically about Form B, so they can begin bid preparation.

Utilization History

Revenue from Product Category

Customers Served

Past units provided (Medicare & Non-Medicare)

Revenue from Product Category (Percentage Medicare & Non-Medicare)

Current Plan and Expansion Plan

Staff, Finances, Facilities, Inventory Control, Distribution and Additional Information

Making sense of Bid Weights

A review of how bid weights affect your overall bid

Rob was awarded a contract for the Oxygen category in the Round One rebid of the Miami CBA. His presentation includes actual screen shots from the Round One Rebid.

He will be presenting at the Jacksonville FAHCS Conference on January 5th and at the GAMES Conference in Atlanta on January 18th.

Click here for a few sample slides from the presentation.

Contact rob@amepa.us to register.

If you are reading this message your membership has expired or you are a NON-MEMBER: Please click the link and send in your membership to continue to receive our newsletters and help fund our efforts. Click Here for Membership Details 

AMEPA in Washington, D.C.

AMEPA is working in Washington, D.C. to try and get the Market Pricing Program (MPP) included in the upcoming "Doc Fix" legislation. Over the past six weeks Rob Brant, has had meetings with policy staff of Senators on the Finance Committee about MPP. The Senate Finance Committee will soon introduce legislation to stop physicians from taking a 27.4% pay cut on January 1st and we are working on getting the MPP proposal included in that legislation.

The MPP will reduce the size of Bid areas to single counties or smaller. Binding bids and the requirement of a cash bond will limit out-of-area, inexperienced companies from participating. Only two bid categories will be contracted in each area, allowing non-contracted providers to continue offering eight other Competitive Bid categories to the local communities they serve. The program will also require CMS to provide transparency to a Market Monitor.

Most Senate offices are frustrated by CMS's lack of transparency in the DMEPOS Bidding Program and are aware of potential problems of the program. However, they are hearing from every healthcare group from ambulance services to yoga, that their government needs are greater than anyone else's.

Get involved and get your patients involved by spreading our message to the Senate by visiting www.competitivebiddingPAL.com and find out about our Patient Advocacy Line.

We are also developing a new Patient Advocacy Line, asking your U.S. Representatives to include the Market Pricing Program on H.R. 3630, The Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act. This legislation is the "Doc Fix" bill coming out of the House of Representatives.

To get involved and learn about the Market Pricing Program and recent meetings that AMEPA has held with key legislators in Washington, D.C., email rob@amepa.us

Click here to watch a video about Market Based Pricing programs.

If you are reading this message your membership has expired or you are a NON-MEMBER: Please click the link and send in your membership to continue to receive our newsletters and help fund our efforts. Click Here for Membership Details 

The Federal Government's Deeply Flawed System For Controlling Medicare Costs

Forbes.com 12/12/2011, 4:00PM

Sally Pipes, Contributor

(Covers health policy as President of the Pacific Research Institute)

Medicare's hospital trust fund is set to be exhausted by 2024, according to the latest report from the program's trustees. Federal officials are understandably looking for easy ways to cut spending in the entitlement program in hopes of shoring up its finances.

They believe they've hit on one with a two-year-old effort to introduce "competitive bidding" into the process for buying medical equipment.

Unfortunately, the scheme contrived by the feds is deeply flawed. Not only are Medicare's auctions resulting in the delivery of low-quality or ineffective medical gear - they're also dampening investment into the research that can yield the next generation of innovative treatments.

Click here to read the entire article

If you are reading this message your membership has expired or you are a NON-MEMBER: Please click the link and send in your membership to continue to receive our newsletters and help fund our efforts. Click Here for Membership Details