WOBURN, MA, January 1, 2011 - Neighborhood Diabetes, a ‘high touch’ provider of diabetes testing supplies, insulin pumps and pump supplies, today announced that it will utilize its home delivery capability to continue servicing Medicare beneficiaries in the Orlando Competitive Bidding Area (CBA) with top-brand diabetes testing supplies. Unlike Medicare beneficiaries obtaining supplies from ‘winning bidders’ from CMS’s Competitive Bidding program, patients utilizing Neighborhood will continue to be able to use ‘branded’ products, such as the Lifescan One Touch Ultra, Abbott Freestyle Lite, Bayer Contour, Agamatrix Presto, and Roche Aviva.

“With the crazy bids submitted by the winning providers, we are not at all surprised that winning distributors in the Orlando CBA are forcing CMS beneficiaries to shift to cheaper non-branded products”, said Tom Cronin, CEO of Neighborhood Diabetes, “We have an ironclad company policy to never place one of our clients on a meter we would not want our mother to use. We also don’t switch referrals that we receive from the specified brand to a different product. So, clinicians can be very confident that their patients using Neighborhood Diabetes will end up on a product they support.”

In November and Decemeber, Neighborhood Diabetes telephoned each of the winning bidders in the Orlando MSA, and asked “if I am a caregiver for a Medicare beneficiary in the Orlando MSA, and that beneficiary uses the One-Touch Ultra, can I get that product from your company?” Here is a sample of the responses:

Supplier #1:

• Asked about Ultra, and mentioned we were calling about a beneficiary on an insulin pump who needs to use the Ultra. The representative said, “I bet you no other company on the list will provide you with the Ultra, Accucheck, or any of the really popular ones.” He stated further, “Medicare lowered the reimbursement so if any company supplied Ultra products they will lose money.” When made aware that utilizing the insulin pump required the Ultra, the representative suggested I call my MD to get on another pump that did not require the use of Ultra strips.

Supplier #2:

• Representative did not know anything about meters or supplies
• Waited on hold for 10 minutes and could not get a diabetic representative
• Representative said people using brand meters would most likely be switched to another meter, but did not give concrete information
• Said “running all sorts of promotions on generic meters”

Supplier #3:

• Do not offer major brands. We were told that beneficiaries “must pay out of pocket” for these
• Offer ReadyCode Meter which is “comparable to one touch”

Supplier #4:

• Only offer the Element meter. The representative pitched it as “the best meter on the market because it requires the least amount of blood. There is no other meter requiring less blood or less pain.”  He also warned me that if I don’t switch to Cyntrist then I might get a bill from Medicare, if I am a beneficiary, because they are one of the only companies that can service Medicare patients now.

Cronin continued: “This is what we heard throughout our discussions. Even though these companies had bid the low prices which resulted in the winning bid level, they mostly blamed “Medicare” for lowering their reimbursement and not being able to provide branded meters. They also did not acknowledge that beneficiaries can continue to receive supplies from Neighborhood Diabetes, as opposed to one on the Competitive Bidding winners.

For those providers that want to ensure that their patients are able to utilize top-brand meters, with the convenience of home delivery, and a ‘high touch’ model that nudges patients toward adhering to their treatment regimen, Neighborhood Diabetes is really the only choice in the Orlando area.”

Contact:
Tom Cronin
Email Contact: tcronin@sugartest.com
Phone: (407)259-3132

SOURCE: Neighborhood Diabetes, Inc.

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