While the implementation of competitive bidding was delayed by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 for at least 18 months, CMS is wasting no time in starting to shape a revised program. To that end, CMS announced that it is calling for nominees for its Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC), which is supposed to advise the regulatory agency on its national competitive bidding program.
CMS says that MIPPA extended the PAOC for two years, through Dec. 31 2011, so it is ending the terms of the committee’s current membership. The membership is composed of 10 or 12 members hailing from various categories:
- Beneficiary/consumer representatives.
- Physicians and other practitioners.
- Suppliers.
- Professional standards organizations.
- Financial standards specialists, such as economists and certified public accountants.
- Association representatives.
“We look forward to working with the new PAOC members to bring people with Medicare higher quality durable medical equipment items and services at lower prices,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems, in a prepared statement.
CMS says it could consider nominees from other categories if it thinks those nominees could help “ensure the successful implementation of the program.”
Of course, opinions are mixed as to the effectiveness of that advisory relationship between the PAOC and CMS, given that the initial attempts at competitive bidding were so problematic (thus resulting in the delay).
“Through the PAOC, CMS has a great opportunity to learn from the problems from Round One,” says AAHomecare President and CEO Tyler Wilson. “Of course, the agency should have made greater use of the expertise on the PAOC during its implementation of the bidding program, which was deeply flawed. At the same time, AAHomecare will be working with Congress on alternatives to competitive bidding in the context of Medicare reform, which will be a matter that the next Congress takes up.”
AAHomecare has announced that it will develop a task force to develop an alternative program to competitive bidding.
