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DME mail order testing supplies competitive bidding info

By Nancy Trebilcock posted 07-10-2013 09:07

  

By now, you or your patients have heard the radio/TV ads regarding changes that may impact how they obtain BG testing supplies that became effective July 1st. AADE has posted a Practice Advisory Paper regarding mail order testing supplies, to the www.diabeteseducator.org home website page. Supplemental documents are included in the Announcements tab from the MO state home page--see posting/article with the same title as this notice. This may help you provide information to any inquiries you receive. Access the Professional Resources tab from the AADE home page: Professional Resources tab >> Practice Documents, for other White Papers, Scope/Standards, Practice Guidelines, Position Statements, etc.

 

 

 

Nancy Trebilcock, BSN, RN, CDE

 

Immediate Past Chair, MO CB

 

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Caren Bryant
08-02-2013 13:11

Competitive Bidding Nightmare

Beverly, I agree.  I've been trying to stay on top of this whole CB thing.  I've been working closely with my vendors to keep in the loop.  Abbott products are not covered under any of the 23 CM contracts.  However, our patients can get them thru the BIG BOX stores and paid by Medicare as if they were done by one of the CBidders. Another issue is that the list of mail order CB winners is determined by the patient's zip code! Yikes!  No way to get an exhaustive list.  And that 3x/day testing limit.  Medicare, get into the 21st century.  We need data! How can safe recommendations be made without the #s.  We need an educator in Medicare.

Beverly Hoff
07-14-2013 11:24

DME

Thank you, Nancy! I can't tell you how annoyed I am about how this impacts so many of our patients! I get calls all the time telling me they've been promised a meter that doesn't poke the skin (we've been hearing that one for years); OR they report that they're being forced to accept a new meter or can't get strips for their (favorite) brand. Many of our elderly don't move from one meter to the other very easily!


AND they can't lose the "3 strips a day" restriction for those taking insulin fast enough for me! I'm tired of filling out extra paperwork and others in my office don't even explain to patients that we can document the need for more strips (sometimes).