This week, the ATS joined 20 sister patient and physician organizations in joint comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the impact of competitive bidding on Medicare patient access to supplemental oxygen.  For several years, the ATS has expressed concern to CMS staff and Congress that the competitive bidding system creates significant disruptions of service and inappropriately reduces access to supplemental oxygen systems for patients who require oxygen – especially liquid oxygen systems that are needed to meet the needs of patients who require high flow oxygen.

For the first time in several years, CMS’s proposed rule explicitly recognized the problems in the supplemental oxygen market and proposed a series of policy changes to help address the oxygen issues.  While the ATS appreciates CMS’s recognition of the problem, the policy solutions proposed by CMS are insufficient to address the underlying problem. 

The ATS and sister patient and provider organizations are encouraging CMS to use its discretionary authority to carve out liquid oxygen from the competitive bidding system – while keeping other oxygen modalities within the competitive bidding structure.