Bidding found to reduce Medicare waste and fraud on medical devices

A yearlong experiment with competitive bidding for personal medical equipment produced $200 million in savings for Medicare, and government officials said Wednesday they are expanding the pilot program to a total of 100 cities next year, in search of even greater dividends. The nine-city crackdown targeting waste and fraud has drawn a strong protest from the medical supply industry, which is warning of shortages for people receiving Medicare benefits and economic hardship for small suppliers. But a report found only 151 complaints from a total population of 2.3 million Medicare recipients in the nine metropolitan areas, including Miami, Cincinnati and Riverside, CA.