Medicare overpaying to lease wheelchairs

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Competitive bidding could save Medicare hundreds of thousands of dollars on the lease of power-driven wheelchairs, a U.S. inspector general says.

In a report released Wednesday, the internal watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services says suppliers purchase power-driven wheelchairs for about one-fourth of what Medicare pays to lease them, CNN reports.

Competitive bidding would have cut Medicare's average cost for a standard power wheelchair by nearly $1,000, the inspector general said.

During the first half of 2007 more than 173,000 Medicare beneficiaries received power wheelchairs at a cost of about $686 million.

"Medicare and its beneficiaries paid suppliers an average of $2,970 beyond the suppliers' acquisition cost of $1,048 to perform an average of five services and cover general business costs," the inspector general said.

The difference between acquisition and leasing was not as dramatic for more advanced wheelchairs used for physical rehabilitation patients, the report said.