Medicare says competitive pricing will save $28B [View All]

[cbayer]

These are the kinds of changes to Medicare that are worth supporting.

Kudos again to Dr. Berwick. We need to make sure he is not removed as the CMS administrator at the end of this session. Lobby your congresscritters!

By Sam Baker - 08/19/11 04:00 PM ET
Medicare is dramatically expanding a program that it says will save billion of dollars and serve as a model for other cost-cutting efforts.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday announced the second round of a program that uses competitive bidding to set prices for certain medical products. Medicare now uses competitive bidding in nine cities and will expand to 91 areas, according to the Friday announcement.

In its first six months, the nine-city competitive bidding program has saved roughly $130 million, CMS officials said. The agency expects to save $28 billion over the next 10 years, roughly a third of which would be savings to patients.

“The president has clearly acknowledged the need for further savings to implement (in) the Medicare program, but I think we also need to take stock and take credit for what’s been achieved so far, and from a CMS perspective, DME competitive bidding is one that we’re proud of and one we believe is working,” CMS Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum said.

more at link:

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/177573-medicare-says-competitive-pricing-will-save-28b