CMS plans to proceed with a program requiring suppliers of durable medical equipment to bid to be able to sell their products to Medicare beneficiaries, according to a Bloomberg report.
A nine-city trial in the first half of 2011 saved $130 million, did not harmed patient care and led to almost 100 retail stores opening and, CMS officials told reporters in a briefing.
The program will expand to 91 more metropolitan areas by July 2013 and go nationwide by 2016, and CMS expects it will save the federal government $17 billion over a decade on items like wheelchairs, oxygen tanks and diabetes-testing supplies.
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