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• HHS: Comparison of Prices for NPWT Pumps in the U.S.
• 31/08/2013
• 
           US HHS: Suppliers paid an average of $3,604 for the new pump models, compared to Medicare's purchase price of $17,165.
           Further, beneficiaries' coinsurance payments for the pumps cover a substantial portion of the average cost of a new pump model. After just 4 months of rental, a beneficiary's coinsurance of $1,286 covers over one-third (36 percent) of the average cost of a new pump model. If a beneficiary were to rent the pump for all of the 13 months allowed by Medicare, the beneficiary's coinsurance alone ($3,599) would cover almost the entire average cost of a new pump model.
           In addition, as shown in Table 1, the average prices for all three of the pump models that suppliers purchased were substantially lower than Medicare's purchase price. The average price that suppliers paid for the three different models ranged from $1,955 to $4,970.27 The pump that was most commonly provided to beneficiaries in the first half of 2007 had an average price of $2,934.
           The prices include documented discounts but not shipping charges.
  
           Source: OIG analysis of supplier documentation, 2008. The individual prices for all of the pumps that suppliers purchased were also substantially lower than Medicare's purchase price. The lowest price that suppliers paid for one of the pumps was $1,085, a difference of $16,080 from Medicare's purchase price. The highest price that suppliers paid for one of the pumps was $6,173, a difference of $10,992. The price for the pump that was most commonly provided to beneficiaries ranged from $2,449 to $3,950.
  
          
  
           TodaysWoundClinic.com by HMP Communications LLC
           Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. March 2009
  
           Reference:
           http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-02-07-00660.pdf