VGM Group Distributes NCB Letters

• By Laurie Watanabe
• Jun 15, 2012

Van Miller, CEO and founder of The VGM Group, has mailed more than 10,000 packets containing information about Medicare's national competitive bidding (NCB) program.

The packets - which contain copies of recent newspaper stories about competitive bidding - were sent to VGM members and associates of the member services organization. Recipients are asked to "pass the contents along to as many people as possible."

"I urge you to share these articles with your patients, your staff and your Congressional representatives," Miller wrote. "Check out peopleforqualitycare.org and take the pledge to keep fighting. Go to P4QC's YouTube channel and share the patient videos. Competitive bidding is bad medicine for everyone involved."

Medicare's controversial bidding program for DME has been widely criticized. One of the distributed newspaper stories is from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, and features VGM CFO Mike Mallaro discussing NCB research done by Ken Brown, an economics professor at the University of Northern Iowa.

After analyzing the expected impact of competitive bidding on VGM's home state, Brown reported that Iowa could lose up to half of its current DME providers once the program is completely rolled out.

Another news article discusses a California Institute of Technology study, which said the program "is doomed to face severe difficulties."

The VGM Group is headquartered in Waterloo.