TREASURE COAST — The number of Treasure Coast medical equipment suppliers for Blue Cross/Blue Shield patients will dwindle to three starting Nov. 1.

The cutbacks follow a competitive bidding process by regional suppliers who provide products from diabetes testing strips to oxygen machines statewide to remain in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida network.

Liberty Medical Supply and Physician’s Choice Respiratory Services, Inc., both in Port St. Lucie, and Rotech Oxygen & Medical Equipment in Stuart remain as the lone Treasure Coast suppliers after the bidding, according to a Blue Cross/Blue Shield list sent to Oxygen Plus in Vero Beach.

Because no Indian River County companies won bids, the closest suppliers for Indian River residents will be the Port St. Lucie suppliers, or suppliers in Melbourne at Apria Healthcare, Inc. or Browning’s Pharmacy and Health Care, Inc.

“As part of our efforts to continually manage costs for our members, BCBSF examines all costs related to providing care,” according to a statement from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida on Tuesday. “In some cases, this may result in decreasing the amount of suppliers utilized.”

Local suppliers see the cutbacks as part of a larger trend that will often force patients to travel farther and sacrifice the level of service to get reasonably priced equipment and treatment.

“It’s just probably a sign of things to come,” said Mark Hassett, manager of Stuart-based Oxypros Inc. “Patients are going to be told what doctors they can and can’t see, what suppliers they can and can’t use.”

Many local suppliers said they received a letter of termination from Blue Cross/Blue Shield in late July with no forewarning, and were left scratching their heads about how, why and when the bidding happened.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield hasn’t yet notified patients of the change, suppliers said.

“We were never requested to offer a bid,” said Jim Wescott, owner of Oxypros. “We’ve been just basically dumped, and it’s not clear why.”

The bidding process cut the list of supplier offices in Florida in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield network to 100, composed of 41 companies, according to the list.

Out-of-network transactions reimbursements result in higher patient co-pays, deductibles and product price for the patient, said Kathie Rovella of Oxygen Plus.

Oxygen Plus currently sells 50 diabetic strips at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield in-network price of $21.06, and patients pay $4.21 after insurance reimbursement. Out of network, Rovella estimates the same strips will cost about $45, and patients will pay about $18 come November, Rovella said.

The inability to offer prices that can compete with in-network suppliers will probably send the majority of OxyPros’ 175 to 250 Blue Cross/Blue Shield clients looking elsewhere for their supplies, Wescott said.

With the closest supplier at least 45 minutes away to the north or south, Rovella thinks some Blue Cross/Blue Shield patients in Indian River County with diabetes might just opt out of regular testing because of the inconvenience.

“Honestly, I think people will just stop doing it (testing),” Rovella said. “Ultimately, if you don’t keep up with your sleep apnea or diabetic supplies, you are going to need hospitalization.”

“It seems like another way the government and big companies are slamming these mom-and-pop’s stores,” Hassett said.

CLOSEST BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD SUPPLIERS

Starting Nov. 1, these are the closest medical suppliers for Blue Cross/Blue Shield:

• Apria Healthcare

274 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne – (321) 255-3534

2200 N. Florida Mango Road, West Palm Beach – (561) 471-3030

• Browning’s Pharmacy and Health Care, Inc.

141 E. Hibiscus Road, Melbourne (321) 725-6320

• Liberty Medical Supply

10045 S. Federal Highway, Port St. Lucie – (866) 494-5636

• Physician’s Choice Respiratory Services, Inc.

1532 S.E. Village Green Drive, Port St. Lucie – (772) 335-1570

• Rotech Oxygen & Medical Supplies

7897 Jack James Way, Stuart – (800) 699-4363

1860 Old Okeechobee Road, West Palm Beach – (800) 493-9638

Jonathan Mattise

Tags: beach, cutbacks, cuts, diabetes, driving, federal, Florida, government, green, Health, hospital, insurance, medical, North, Okeechobee, pharmacy, physician, prices, production, roads, Stuart, travel, trend, utility

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 am and is filed under Economy, Health, Indian River County, St. Lucie County, State, Stuart, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.