Letter: Bishop, Staff, Battled Medicare, Saved Local Business

My wife Virginia and I own in Riverhead. We are a durable medical equipment company that provides Medicare and other insurance clients with home care equipment. We have been in business with Medicare since 1991, and never had any legal problems with any agency.

Recently, Medicare changed the way that companies like ours submit bids for provision of equipment and supplies to Medicare clients. Due to a minor clerical error associated with this process, on March 7 our employees started to bill Medicare and found out that Medicare deactivated our Medicare number. We tried to get the situation resolved, but Medicare insisted we had to send a whole new application of 35 pages along with all supporting documentation, pay a $523 fee, and wait approximately three months before we could bill Medicare again. They said there is no grace period, no second chance and no leeway.  

This was devastating to us. We were basically out of business and may have had to close our doors as our business is over 50 percent supported by Medicare. We were faced with laying off employees and closing up shop over a simple clerical error. This also made us ineligible to participate in the Medicare Competitive Bidding Program which would have taken us out of Medicare for an additional three-year period.

Not able to get anywhere on our own, we contacted Congressman Timothy Bishop’s office in Patchogue on March 8th. Congressman Bishop and his staff immediately took on this task and assured us they would work with Medicare to get this issue resolved in an expeditious manner. His office kept in contact with me daily and through their efforts our Medicare number was reactivated within a one week period.  

I want to personally thank Mr. Bishop and his staff for all the hard work they have done. This is a real blessing to us, our employees, and our customers. There are no words that can express how important this was to us. Without his efforts we could have lost our business. If any of your readers have similar problems, I urge them to contact Congressman Bishop’s office. He and his staff are a great resource.

- Leroy Lewin

Owner, Lewin Medical Supply

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