Competitive Bidding Halt Denied

Here is a link to the ruling by the Court

http://www.g2reports.com/issues/GCR/2008_3/1615797-1.html

The Court  agreed with the government that the request for a stay was premature. The government had also argued that the Court does not have jurisdiction over Medicare issues such as this bidding project.

On the other hand, there is  little question that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does have the right to act as they have in this matter. CMS very often interprets laws and crafts regulations based on its (CMS's) understanding of the law.

That is why it is important to change the law to specifically prohibit CMS from conducting this project and even expanding it as planned.  There are 2 bills in Congress that the clinical laboratory community might want to support.

Please contact your  2 state senators and urge them to co-sponsor S.2099, the Preserving Access to Laboratories Act of 2007.  This bill, introduced by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Pat Roberts (R-KS), would actually repeal the authority of CMS to conduct a competitive bidding demonstration project for clinical laboratory services.  

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House, by the way. But as a first step, please contact your senators.

If this demonstration project is allowed to proceed, it would cause smaller labs to close, reduce competition and reduce patient access  to critical laboratory services; therefore adversely affecting patient care.

How can I read the press release " competitive bidding halt denied"? The here button does not work for me.

This is no surprise whatsoever.  The basis of all the legal arguments is that it will disenfranchise smaller, less industrialized labs and take choices away from the physician and patient, while giving a huge advantage to corporate labs.  As far as government contract culture goes, that is just a part of the game.  If these big labs were actually smart they would see that cost control looming on the horizon is not really good for them.  If Medicare/Medicaid start paying the lowest possible price for a test, then the rest of the insurance industry will follow suit and start paying similiar rates.  So, if these big labs try to underbid one another to get the contracts and the new 'DRG's are set at a competively low rate, it will be difficult for them to maintain the sorts of profits they do right now.  The big labs are hoping for the contract because they are assuming that volume will sustain them.  The thing is, that if market prices for reagents and other consumables rise drastically, there will be no renegotiating of the contract until its set time so the institution can actually begin to lose money.  As technology changes and the price to operate changes with it, the government is notoriously slow to adjust.  The billing issues that go hand in hand with any government related business is also a major factor.  So more power to these government beta sites...  I doubt that everything goes as they envision.  

The biggest problem with this entire business is that the wheels of justice move slowly with these sorts of things and patients will be put in possible jeopardy just due to the turnaround times that will be extended merely due to the fact that work will not be done at the local hospital lab or physicians lab.   This, of course, will lead to the abuse of the priority "Stat" and it could even lead to an increase of ER visits.   The cost isn't going to be immediately apparent, but by the end of the pilot program, I think there will be changes.