HME Wins Bid Delay!

ATLANTA

In a victory of landmark proportions for the home medical equipment industry and the people it serves, national competitive bidding was suspended July 15 when the House of Representatives and the Senate voted to override President Bush's veto of the Medicare bill that includes the program delay.

It was a victory that was remarkable in several ways:

• It was only the third time in Bush's presidency that his veto was overridden.

• Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., made his first appearance on the floor of the Senate since being diagnosed with a brain tumor to vote in favor of the Medicare package.

• It was the first legislative success for HME in at least 20 years, according to long-time industry stakeholders.

“It's unbelievable,” said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare, about the override vote, which was decided in the House by a margin of 383 to 41 and in the Senate by a margin of 70 to 26.

In addition to the bid delay, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331) repeals the ownership transfer of oxygen equipment to beneficiaries mandated under the Deficit Reduction Act. It also carves out complex rehab from any future bidding project.

To pay for all of this, providers across the nation will take a 9.5 reimbursement cut in the 10 product categories included in round one of bidding. That cut will take effect Jan. 1, 2009.

Dubbed “MIPPA,” the law's competitive bidding provisions are the result of an extraordinary effort by providers, manufacturers, industry organizations, advocacy groups and beneficiaries to educate legislators about the HME industry and the program's potentially devastating effects.

“The industry should be extremely proud of its ability to raise awareness and make such a significant policy change,” said Walt Gorski, vice president of government relations for the American Association for Homecare.

“Everybody's efforts paid off,” echoed Don Clayback, vice president, government relations, for Lubbock, Texas-based The MED Group. “It was a good example of [how] if you pull everybody together, you can certainly have some influence in Washington.”

Legislators who had aligned themselves with the industry's five-year battle against NCB also heralded the new law.