The Coming of Competitive Bidding for Medicare DME Reimbursement

Originally Published MX September/October 2004

GOVERNMENTAL & LEGAL AFFAIRS

Suppliers of durable medical equipment must go toe-to-toe on price. Will manufacturers be just interested bystanders?

Jesse A. Witten and Renee M. Howard

With its passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Congress mandated a fundamental change in the way Medicare reimburses suppliers of durable medical equipment (DME).¹ Beginning in 2007, Medicare will pay for major items of DME according to the results of a competitive bidding process.