This lack of judgement on the part of CMS underscores the weakness of the whole HME competitive bidding proposal. Awarding regional monopolies to the companies who can do it the cheapest gives too much power to price and too little power to customer service. What good is a cheap bedside commode if it shows up four days after you were discharged from the hospital? If Medicare beneficiaries have a choice, they will be able to balance the cost benefits of cost versus customer service. When customers don't have a choice, there is no longer a profit incentive to provide good product or good customer service.
This is also a fool hardy endeavor on the part of CMS, because they will be running all the competition in each region out of business. Right now, CMS is negotiating these competitive bids from a position of power. After CMS has created these regional monopolies for a few years, all the competition will have gone out of business, and CMS will find that the tables have turned.
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CMS "Violating Their Own Rules" by Awarding Rotech CB Contracts - AMEPA Spokesperson
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