Round One of the national competitive bidding program has saved $202 million in its first year, a reduction of 42 percent in costs, according to “Competitive Bidding Update—One Year Implementation Update,” new report released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Moreover, as the program enters Round Two and expands under the Affordable Care Act, it could save up to $42.8 billion for taxpayers and beneficiaries over the next 10 years.
The full report can be viewed at: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/DMEPOSCompetitiveBid/index.html
The projected $42 billion is much higher than previous CMS estimates, and could present additional challenges for the industry’s efforts to get the Market Pricing Program alternative to competitive bidding scored by the Congressional Budget Office. A CBO score is the
The report also follows an earlier report by CMS that concluded there have been no negative health impacts because of competitive bidding. That report came under considerable criticism by the industry and providers of third party reports that drew very different conclusions about the negative impacts of NCB.
Other claims made by the report:
- Seniors, and people with disabilities in Medicare, will directly save a projected $17.1 billion due to lower co-insurance for durable medical equipment and lower premiums for Medicare over the next decade.
- Taxpayers are projected to save an additional $25.7 billion through the Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund because of reduced prices.
- Medicare beneficiaries in Round One’s nine competitive bidding areas had “substantial” reductions in their co-insurance for DME.
- Medicare beneficiaries saved up to $105 on hospital beds, $168 on oxygen concentrators, and $140 on diabetic test strips.
- A real-time claims monitoring system, found that people on Medicare continue to have access to all necessary and appropriate items.
The Affordable Care Act expands Round Two of the DME competitive bidding program from 70 to 91 metropolitan statistical areas across the country. By 2016, all areas of the country will be subject to from the competitive bidding program or lower rates based on the competitively bid rates.
“Seniors, and people with disabilities on Medicare, are saving money thanks to our successful competitive bidding program,” said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. “By expanding this successful program, we will save tens of billions of dollars for beneficiaries and taxpayers over the next 10 years.”