By Steve Pociask
What if regulations prevented your doctor from prescribing you the correct course of treatment for your illness? Thanks to a seriously flawed medical device auction program that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is planning to implement, that could start happening soon. The program, if not fixed, will reduce patient access to prescribed medical supplies for home use, as well as worsen patient outcomes and increase medical costs.
Eight years ago, Congress introduced legislation that would set up an auction bidding system as a means to drive down Medicare costs for home medical equipment — including crutches, wheelchairs, oxygen, diabetes testing equipment and other durable supplies. Auctions can certainly be a very effective way to achieve competitive prices, if done correctly. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that a competitive bidding system would result in billions of dollars of savings, so Congress passed the legislation into law.
What if regulations prevented your doctor from prescribing you the correct course of treatment for your illness? Thanks to a seriously flawed medical device auction program that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is planning to implement, that could start happening soon. The program, if not fixed, will reduce patient access to prescribed medical supplies for home use, as well as worsen patient outcomes and increase medical costs.
Eight years ago, Congress introduced legislation that would set up an auction bidding system as a means to drive down Medicare costs for home medical equipment — including crutches, wheelchairs, oxygen, diabetes testing equipment and other durable supplies. Auctions can certainly be a very effective way to achieve competitive prices, if done correctly. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that a competitive bidding system would result in billions of dollars of savings, so Congress passed the legislation into law.
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