As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launches into its run up for the re-bid of Round Two of competitive bidding, industry legal expert Jeffrey S. Baird Esq. will present a special HME Business webinar next Wednesday to show providers how they can survive even without a contract.
Dubbed “The Competitive Bidding Survival Manual,” the special, Aug. 20 event will explore the how’s and why’s behind the various ways non-contract suppliers to enter the competitive bidding arena “after the fact.” These include:
- Purchasing 100 percent of a contract supplier’s assets.
- Purchasing only those assets of a contract supplier that are associated with the supplier’s competitive bid contract.
- Purchasing 100 percent of the stock of a contract supplier.
- Establishing a 5 percent or more common ownership that will entitle the non-contract supplier to be added to the contract supplier’s competitive bid contract.
Baird, the chairman of the Health Care Group at industry law firm Brown & Fortunato, P.C. (Amarillo, Texas), will discuss these scenarios, as well as how the contract supplier and non-contract supplier can enter into a subcontract arrangement.
Given that CMS has already started its pre-bidding supplier awareness program, and is slated to announce in fall the bidding schedule and open bidder registration period to obtain user ID and passwords, the urgency is now for providers to ensure they will have the knowledge to adapt to any bidding-related challenges they might face.
The webinar is scheduled for next Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 11 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Central/2 p.m. Eastern. It will last 60 minutes and include a question-and-answer session. To register, visit http://bit.ly/1l81175, or http://hme-business.com/webcasts/list/all-webinars.aspx.
Baird represents HME companies, pharmacies and other healthcare providers nationwide. He works closely with governmental agencies, and has authored numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer throughout the country. Additionally, Baird serves on the Medtrade Education Advisory Board, the American Association for Homecare’s Regulatory Council, and the AAHomecare Audit Task Force.