Round 1 Rebid Cuts Average 32%
BALTIMORE—In an announcement the HME industry has been both waiting to hear and dreading, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released new payment rates for the Round 1 rebid. The reimbursement reductions average 32 percent across all product categories.

The agency’s Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor posted the rates on its website this afternoon, including the single-payment amounts by code and by competitive bidding area (CBA). Charts also show the distribution of contract offers for each product category in each CBA.

The new rates are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2011, in the nine Round 1 cities: Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, Orlando, Pittsburgh and Riverside, Calif.