Medicare and ppsc

How is any DME let alone PPSC going to survive the 40% plus cuts to medicare reimbursements? Also in Nevada they have decided all dme equipment including oxygen equipment is taxable and auditing retroactively to 2011. Government has also made 2% sequester permanent for dme. West coast in some areas 56% cut. Is this the death knell for dme

 

Just heard layoffs are planned company wide for first of year to offset rate reductions

 

Dag PPS is at it again.
Looks like round 3 of layoffs is going to be even larger vs the last two major ones

 

I know the person at PPS who is in charge of this stuff and he seems optimistic at least. But yeah, rural providers are getting screwed with this huge cut. I bet a lot of smaller providers are going to disappear after 1/1 and 7/1 rate drop.

 

Anyone know which areas won the Medicare bid for 2016? Company should know by now but word on the street is they aren't telling employees until March 2016. Starting to think PPS lost out on bid in some regions.. is it time to start putting out those job apps?

 

No idea who won, interesting article...http://www.healthindustrywashingtonwatch.com/tags/dmepos-competitive-bidding/

Have heard more layoffs in January.

 

Where are the locations these 'layoffs' will be affecting the most? Everyone keeps saying layoffs are coming, where are they to be expected to hit, and when?

 

Winners for Round 2 Recompete will be announced in "Winter 2016" which is most likely late January/early February. Bids for Round 1 2017 closed yesterday, and those results will likely be announced in "Summer 2016" which is likely August/September 2016.

 

Better resource is dmecompetitivebid.com which is the actual site for competitive bidding. Massive cuts coming to "rural" areas on 1/1, with rates in rural areas dropping to the 'average' of the CB rates in their region. For example, Spokane's rates will drop to match those in Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. in the Far West region.

 

Well, if they are requiring that people take vacation time during the holidays watch out, that is usually a give away. They don't paying for unused vacation time when they escort you out of the building.

 

Holiday vacation has been a standard for several years now, not really a clue to something brewing.

 

all of this doesnt matter anymore, now medicare is starting prior auth for most dme items on Feb 28, 2016. If the cuts dont get you this will

 

The question should be why is any dme or oxygen provider still accepting Medicare? If all of the hmes quit it would force users to submit their own claims. I'm sure that would bog Medicare down. The other issue is politics, the government wants to get out of their commitment to seniors and veterans. The ones who politic for constant cuts in Medicare or other healthcare benefits are the ones responsible. George Bush's prescription drug law is responsible for the current competitive bidding fiasco and his signing statement of a 36 month cap on rental payments for 02 was the death blow.