Durable Medical Equipment Competitive Bidding Demonstration. Review ofReimbursement Methods of Other Payors for Durable Medical Equipment

摘要

The report focuses on three competitive bidding programs for durable medicalequipment (DME) in major public programs; specifically, the acquisition of home oxygen services by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the acquisition of home oxygen services by the Medicaid program in Utah, and those same services plus wheelchair acquisition by the Minnesota Medicaid program. The report explains, in detail, how competitive bidding is handled, cost savings of competitive bidding as compared with Medicare reimbursement, how quality is monitored, and finally, if any of the procedures have operational feasibility for the Medicare program. The conclusion of the report is that while competitive bidding programs are worthy of emulation, the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA's) payment system of benefits is much more complex than either the VA or the Medicaid programs and that many issues of design and administration would have to be dealt with.