Competitive Bidding another view
Pat Shannon
Description
Collection
Title:
Competitive Bidding another view
Creator:
Pat Shannon
Date:
6/10/2002
Text:
I think that the O&P Community is probably right in wanting to be exempt
from competitive bidding. Chances of it being good for either patients or
practitioners is slim and nobody will really know till it is too late.
But there is another side to consider. The 1st competitive bidding model in
Florida turned out to be the answer to wound care providers prayers. Now I
am not suggesting that they collaborated on this, but collectively as a
group, they figured out how to beat the system and got a 10% increase in
reimbursement.
Somehow they all figured out that in a competitive bidding situation that
the fee schedule is not the starting point that you have to bid under. All
the other product categories made the mistake of thinking they had to under
bid the fee schedule. In competitive bidding there is no safety net for
Medicare. So if all the bids come in 10% more than the fee schedule, they
are stuck with it. This is exactly what happened in the first test model
and the providers ended up better off for it.
I still think everyone should fight to get out of this, but wanted to share
that if bid smartly by everyone, there is a potential upside.
Pat S
O&P Biller
from competitive bidding. Chances of it being good for either patients or
practitioners is slim and nobody will really know till it is too late.
But there is another side to consider. The 1st competitive bidding model in
Florida turned out to be the answer to wound care providers prayers. Now I
am not suggesting that they collaborated on this, but collectively as a
group, they figured out how to beat the system and got a 10% increase in
reimbursement.
Somehow they all figured out that in a competitive bidding situation that
the fee schedule is not the starting point that you have to bid under. All
the other product categories made the mistake of thinking they had to under
bid the fee schedule. In competitive bidding there is no safety net for
Medicare. So if all the bids come in 10% more than the fee schedule, they
are stuck with it. This is exactly what happened in the first test model
and the providers ended up better off for it.
I still think everyone should fight to get out of this, but wanted to share
that if bid smartly by everyone, there is a potential upside.
Pat S
O&P Biller
Citation
Pat Shannon, “Competitive Bidding another view,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 6, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/219021.
