Keep Up the Momentum

Our industry has been working double-time to convince Congress to delay competitive bidding and raise awareness about bidding problems. Efforts to educate policymakers and the consumer press have produced a lot of good will in Congress and better coverage of the issue in the media. But the heavy lifting is not over.

During the American Association for Homecare Medicare Bidding Fly-in on May 21, more than 160 home care advocates lobbied Congress, asking for an 18-month delay in round one of bidding. The purpose for the delay is to give Congress both an opportunity to assess the many complex problems with competitive bidding and provide some time to determine how to address those issues.

AAHomecare Chairman Alan Landauer, of Landauer Metropolitan, noted during the fly-in that the efforts to stop round one of the Medicare competitive bidding program “started with a groundswell of grassroots noise.” And now, he said, “We stand on the precipice of a delay of round one and round two and the potential to defeat competitive bidding.”

The home care advocates asked their U.S. representatives to sign a letter addressed to leaders of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee asking them to “support legislation this year to delay the implementation of this program until outstanding issues can be resolved.” Nearly 130 members of the House agreed to sign the letter in support of a delay.

For the home care community to have a reasonable chance for achieving a legislatively mandated delay, we must be willing to pay the cost of postponing the program. This is the reality of working within the “pay-as-you-go” fiscal environment imposed by Democrats in Congress as well as the general belt-tightening in Washington.

Under the direction of the AAHomecare Executive Committee, the association has indicated to the House and Senate its willingness to discuss an across-the-board reduction in Medicare payments for all HME items as an offset for the cost of delaying competitive bidding. At press time for this column, the industry is awaiting credible dollar figures from the Ways and Means Committee as to the actual offset needed to pay for the proposed delay in bidding.