Competitive bidding for home care under the channeling demonstration.

Competitive bidding is a relatively new strategy for setting rates and choosing providers for public medical care programs. In this article, the experience in competitive bidding by home health care providers and homemaker agencies in the National Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration is described. Particular attention is paid to contrasting approaches that select a single winning bidder with those that select multiple winning bidders for the same service. Results are discussed with respect to bid prices, characteristics of winning bidders, administrative demands, and service delivery.