[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E361-E362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRATULATIONS TO HCFA FOR SAVING MEDICARE MONEY; CONGRESS SHOULD GIVE 
                 HCFA MORE COMPETITIVE PURCHASING TOOLS

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 14, 2001

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, a lot of Members of Congress have been 
criticizing HCFA lately, largely because they are trying to carry out 
impossible complex laws passed by Members of Congress.
  We also complain that HCFA isn't competitive enough. In the BBA of 
1997, we gave authority to HCFA to carry out competitive bidding 
demonstrations on the purchase of durable medical equipment. Those 
demonstrations are indeed showing substantial savings. I would like to 
enter in the Record a press release of March 1st describing the 
progress of these demonstrations.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress should immediately allow those demonstrations 
to become permanent and to be extended nationwide. Congress should stop 
calling HCFA inefficient when we aren't willing to give it the power to 
be efficient.

               [From the HCFA Press Office, Mar. 1, 2001]

   Second Round of Medicare Competitive Bidding Project for Medical 
                     Supplies in Polk County, FLA.

       Medicare has launched the second round of its successful 
     pilot project in Polk County, Fla., that uses competition to 
     provide quality medical equipment and supplies to 
     beneficiaries at better prices. The Balanced Budget Act of 
     1997 authorizes the Health Care Financing Administration 
     (HCFA) to demonstrate how competitive bidding can help 
     Medicare beneficiaries and the program pay more reasonable 
     prices for quality medical equipment and supplies. Several 
     studies by the U.S. General Accounting (GAO) and the HHS 
     Inspector General have shown that the Medicare program and 
     its beneficiaries often pay more for medical equipment and 
     supplies than the prices paid by other insurers and 
     individual patients. Requiring suppliers interested in 
     serving Medicare beneficiaries to submit bids including 
     quality and price information assures access to high-quality 
     medical equipment at a fairer price. The changes also can 
     reduce Medicare waste and abuse.
       During the first round of the Polk County demonstration, 
     HCFA, the agency that administers Medicare, invited companies 
     to compete to sell medical equipment and supplies to 92,000 
     Medicare beneficiaries in Polk County. Bids were evaluated on 
     the basis of quality and price. The new rates set by this 
     competitive process are saving individual beneficiaries and 
     Medicare an average of 17 percent on the cost of certain 
     medical supplies, while protecting quality and access for 
     Polk County beneficiaries. The competitive bidding process 
     took place in the spring of 1999. The new rates took effect 
     on Oct. 1, 1999, and will remain in effect until Sept. 30, 
     2001.
       HCFA implemented a similar demonstration in three Texas 
     counties in the San Antonio area--Bexar, Comal and Guadelupe 
     counties. Suppliers who wished to sell products in five 
     categories to Medicare beneficiaries in the region were 
     required to compete on the basis of quality and price in the 
     spring of 2000. As in the Polk County process, the new prices 
     are saving individual beneficiaries and Medicare an average 
     of 20 percent on the cost of certain medical supplies while 
     protecting quality and access for San Antono beneficiaries. 
     The new rates took effect on Feb. 1, 2001, and will remain in 
     effect until Dec. 31, 2002.
       In the second round of the Polk County demonstration, 
     suppliers will again compete this spring on the basis of 
     quality and price for four of categories of medical equipment 
     and supplies categories included in the first round of the 
     pilot. The categories are: oxygen supplies; hospital beds; 
     urological supplies and surgical dressings. The fifth product 
     category, enteral nutrition, is not being included in the 
     second round because the focus of the demonstration is on 
     medical equipment and supplies delivered to the

[[Page E362]]

     home, and enteral nutrition is primarily provided to nursing 
     home residents. The rates determined for the second round are 
     to take effect on Oct. 1, 2001, and will remain in effect 
     until Sept. 30, 2002.

     

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