Industry Gets Busy As Election Heats Up

ATLANTA

With just days to go until the nation's general election Nov. 4, HME industry leaders are encouraging providers to seize the opportunity and work up until the last minute to make sure federal legislators hear about the positive aspects of home care.

Many providers, manufacturers and other stakeholders prepared to do just that as they announced a flurry of political activity over the past month.

The political activism, propelled in part by the momentum gained when the industry won a delay in competitive bidding, drew kudos from those representing HME who meet regularly with the nation's lawmakers.

“It's a hugely positive phenomenon,” said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Invacare, Elyria, Ohio. “We can't control our destiny, but we can influence our destiny by building those relationships … I say let's do more.”

“We're seeing a very excellent groundswell,” said John Gallagher, vice president of government relations for VGM, Waterloo, Iowa, citing in particular the New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association, which formed its own political action committee in order to support select members of Congress.

In late September, Mal Mixon, chairman and CEO of Invacare, met with former Sen. Tom Daschle, top advisor on health care for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

“It was very encouraging, because there is clearly an appreciation for what home care can bring to the table — besides just cost, there is also quality,” Bachenheimer said, noting that Daschle was “very emphatic” about Obama's support of home health care.

The focus of the hour-long meeting was “relationship-building for whoever ends up in the White House,” Bachenheimer said, noting that Mixon stressed “the willingness of the industry to work with them” should there be a new Democratic administration.

Mixon was also scheduled to meet with Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's running mate Gov. Sarah Palin, and planned to converse with her “in a fair amount of detail” on the industry's issues, Bachenheimer said.

“The short-term objective is to get each candidate to recognize the merits of home health care, and the longer-term objective is that whoever wins the election will be more receptive to incorporating home health care in a much larger way in whatever direction things go as far as health care reform as well as Medicare reform,” Bachenheimer said.

Other current industry political activities include: