KS

I write to urge you to eliminate the Competetive Bid process for DME suppliers, particulary community independent retail pharmacies in rural America. As a pharmacist and manager of an independent retail pharmacy, we have seen first hand the effects that the previous legislation has on patient access to medical supplies. Because we are located 8 miles inside of the Kansas City MSA, we were required to go through the Competetive Bid process the first time around. As a result of CBIC's ineptitude, we were forced ultimately to submit our bid via a paper application. We submitted that bid via certified U.S. mail, and ultimately were informed that CBIC had lost our bid. We were told that there was nothing that they would do to resolve the situation, and as such, we effectively became unable to continue to provide services to our neighbors that they have come to expect from 'their' pharmacy. We were accredited through The Compliance Team, Inc. in August 2007 with a passing score of 93% and subsequently renewed our accreditation in July 2008 with a 98% score. As you can see from our accreditation, we are a highly skilled resource for rural Medicare beneficiaries to receive DME supply. I believe as an accredited provider, CMS should continue to require accreditation in order to maintain an active Provider Billing Number. This requirement would continue to ensure that beneficiaries are receiving supplies only from those entities/agencies that continue to meet Medicare's standard. I urge you to eliminate the bid process. I feel it is a counterproductive and futile attempt to save financial resources. If the same companies that bill high volumes and suspicious claims are awarded bids, it will ultimately do nothing to save health care dollars. Furthermore, if the effective pool of suppliers ultimately is limited to chain DME sources, it will in time have a negative pricing effect, as the submitted bids will inevitably be driven up, regardless of real supplier cost. Please do not limit the ability of local suppliers who meet accreditation standards to provide the appropriate products to appropriate patients, based upon our unique knowledge of our patients and neighbors.