HME News is the monthly business newspaper for home medical equipment providers. This controlled circulation publication reaches 17,100 home medical equipment services providers, including traditional HME dealers & suppliers, hospital- and pharmacy-o
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News 4 www.HMENEwS.cOM / juNE 2016 / HME NEwS By Tracy Orzel, associate editor Springfeld, Ill. – As Illinois looks to reduce spending on incontinence products, pro- viders in the Prairie State say it's going about it the wrong way. In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services issued an RFP to select a single supplier that would provide all incontinence supplies to the state's Medicaid benefciaries. "If you specialize in that market, it could mean closing down," said David Doubek, president of Alsip, Ill.-based Doubek Med- ical Supply. "We're a little more diverse, so we would survive, but it would be another punch to the gut." In 2014, 406 providers delivered $51.2 million worth of incontinence supplies, according to the Great Lakes Home Medi- cal Services Association. "How is one provider going to supply hundreds of orders of incontinence prod- ucts a day," said Doubek. "I would consid- er myself a middle to large-sized provider and it's not even something that I would consider getting involved in." Ill. Medicaid explores single supplier model There's also concern that product qual- ity would decrease. "Whoever won the RFP would be one- dimensional as far as product line," said Doubek. "The shapes and sizes of people's bodies are different. They may be ser- viced, but they're not going to be serviced properly." The deadline for the RFP was pushed back from April 22 to May 6, after nego- tiations to reduce reimbursement rates for incontinence products in lieu of a single supplier model failed. "We thought we had an agreement in place, but the day before they were sup- posed to pull the RFP, they changed their mind," said Matt Peterson, president of the Great Lakes Association. "The department indicated that they had already received some submissions and they wanted to take a look at the offers." Because the RFP does not provide a timeline beyond the May 6 deadline, Peter- son says the ball is in the state's court. "They can award one contract or decide not to award any contract," he said. "It really is up to them at this point." hme cONTRAcT lIST uNDER ScRuTINy C o n t I n u e d f r o M pa g e 3 BID BIll GOES Full STEAM AHEAD C o n t I n u e d f r o M pa g e 3 government relations for AAHomecare. "He's focused on the 21st Century Cures Act, and is trying to control any pay- fors that may impact that legislation. But everyone agrees with the underlying pol- icy that those cuts should be delayed." With time ticking down, legislators plan to pass the bills by unanimous consent. "normally you want to attach bills to a larger bill, but there really is no moving bill before July 1," said Witter. Ideally, stakeholders hoped to see the bill passed by the end of May. "I know our champions want to pass it sooner rather than later to make sure CMS doesn't have any excuse not to implement it," said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government rela- tions for Invacare. "The objective is not to do it June 30; the objective is to do it in advance of that." hme product category, or both—a number with which stakeholders have said they disagree with. "We had the out-of-state issue last time, (with contracts going) to people who were not really committed to serving the community," said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government rela- tions for Invacare. ohio, where Invacare is based, was one of many states that saw contracts award- ed in the original Round 2 to companies that were hundreds or even thousands of miles away—a problem that, at frst glance, looks like it is being repeated in the Round 2 re-compete. "I just opened up the northeast nebu- lizer fle and it's Florida, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Alabama," said Bachenheimer. "That's just the frst page." once the analysis is done, stakehold- ers will use any problems they uncover in their efforts to get a delay in a second round of cuts in non-bid areas on July 1. S. 2736, currently has 23 co-sponsors. "If this paints the picture that you still have the average supplier being 500 miles away, it gives even more credence to say you can't be doing that," said Brummett. hme