H.R. 1041 Rocks the House

More than 250 HME providers and other advocates called on members of Congress to cosponsor H.R. 1041 during the American Association for Homecare's Legislative Conference last month, and their efforts paid off. As of presstime, 53 representatives from both sides of the aisle had signed on to the bill.

Introduced March 11 by Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., and Jason Altmire, D-Pa., the Fairness in Medicare Bidding Act calls for an immediate repeal of DMEPOS competitive bidding. To “pay for” the $20 billion the government expects in savings from the program over 10 years, the bill taps discretionary funds that Congress had earmarked for other projects but never actually used.

H.R. 3790, a similar repeal bill, picked up 259 cosponsors in the House last year but didn't make it out of committee. Speaking to the AAHomecare audience, Thompson said, “I'm hopeful the new bill will gain just as much or more than that.

“All indicators are we're on the track,” said Thompson, a former recreational therapist and EMT. “Most bills like this rarely pass in the first cycle,” he added, “but I think the dynamics are pretty good for us right now.”

Providers, too, said they were confident the new repeal bill could make headway in the House.

“I think we can get 100 cosponsors in the first month,” predicted Rob Brant of City Medical Services in Miami. The key, he said, is getting those representatives who signed on to last year's bill to do so again, and to gain support from as many of the 94 new House freshmen as possible. Ten of those are in Florida, and providers from the state held meetings with all of them during the AAHomecare lobbying event March 16-17.

The trip to Washington to push the new bill was “definitely worth the effort,” said conference attendee Mike Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association. “It sometimes takes years to make things happen up here, and you have to be persistent. But I really believe we've got the best opportunity we've ever had to get competitive bidding repealed at no cost to the industry.

“After a few more months of the current program running,” Hamilton continued, “it will be so obvious to anyone that it isn't working that I think anybody would vote to repeal it.”

Coastal Med Tech's Catherine Hamilton (no relation) agreed.