The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted today to override President Bush’s veto of H.R. 6331, the Medicare package, which included a delay to competitive bidding. The House voted by a margin of 383 yes votes to 41 against, and the Senate by 70 to 26 margin.
President Bush vetoed the bill earlier this morning over concerns that it would mean cuts to the Medicare Advantage plan.
H.R. 6331 delays implementation of national competitive bidding by between 18 and 24 months, with the HME industry paying for the delay via 9.5 percent price cuts to DME and services covered by competitive bidding, except for oxygen and power wheelchairs.
Now that the delay is law, the industry will need to start making order from the new landscape.
To being with, the 9.5 percent reduction begins January 1, 2009, with base pricing in the first 10 MSAs of round one reverting to what pricing was on June 30, according to Michael Reinemer, vice president of communications and policy for the American Association for Homecare, who was interviewed by HME Business sister publication, Mobility Management.
Additionally, what happens to providers that were awarded round one contracts remains unclear, as well.
“We are very concerned about the round one winners who did ramp up and did everything right to win the contracts,” Reinemer said. “And there are some that won some contracts and lost others. So you have a wide range of situations among our membership, and we’ll be working with all of them to minimize any disruption. And also just to make sure that, going forward, we’re doing everything we can to make sure that everyone’s concerns are addressed.”
