2006 proposed fee schedule - American Society of Clinical Oncology

Small Business Administration’s (SBA) size standards. We
estimate that 106,000 entities bill Medicare for durable
medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies
(DMEPOS) each year. Total annual estimated Medicare
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revenues for DME suppliers exceed approximately $8.5 billion
in 2004. Of this amount, approximately $1.4 billion were
for nebulizer drugs in 2004. The vast majority, 95 percent,
of retail pharmacy companies are small businesses as
measured by the SBA size standard. Approximately, 16,000
pharmacies billed Medicare for immunosuppressive, oral
anti-cancer, or oral anti-emetic drugs in 2004. Pharmacies
received Medicare revenues for those drugs of approximately
$350 million in 2004.
In addition, most ESRD facilities are considered small
entities, either based on nonprofit status or by having
revenues of $29 million or less in any year. We consider a
substantial number of entities to be affected if the
proposed rule is estimated to impact more than 5 percent of
the total number of small entities. Based on our analysis
of the 896 nonprofit ESRD facilities considered small
entities in accordance with the above definitions, we
estimate that the combined impact of the proposed changes to
payment for renal dialysis services included in this
proposed rule would have a 1.3 percent increase in overall
payments relative to current overall payments.