HME's New Frontier

For years, the HME industry has dodged the bullet of competitive bidding. Some have ignored it, others have fought it. But now time's up, and it's high noon at the HME corral.

Competitive bidding is a reality, and along with new oxygen provisions set out in the Deficit Reduction Act, the legislative and regulatory mandates currently in place will change the industry's landscape forever.

HME's New Frontier will require new thinking and new business models to face down the challenges and, when the baby boomers become Medicare-eligible in a few years, to deal with a new generation of beneficiaries who have their own ideas about health care service and setting.

Is it time to give up? Absolutely not, say the advocates on the following pages, including congressmen, lobbyists, providers, manufacturers and others.

Now more than ever, they say, is the time to get involved in shaping the industry's future — and yours — by supporting legislative remedies that can protect your business and your patients.

Keep At It!

Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations, Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio

To put it bluntly, Cara Bachenheimer believes the HME industry's best opportunity to affect substantive improvements to CMS' competitive bidding program lies with passage of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Access Act of 2007. Providers may be more familiar with the proposed legislation's common bill numbers and names in the House and Senate: H.R. 1845, also known as the Tanner-Hobson bill, and S. 1428, known as the Conrad-Hatch bill.

While Medicare provisions could come into play earlier as Congress debates funding and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Bachenheimer says “we still have significant opportunity to [change things] now that we are hearing Congress … is inclined to consider and pass a Medicare package later this year.”

She explains that the push for a separate package of legislation that would address Medicare is driven primarily by lawmakers' desire to “fix” the physician payment formula to avoid scheduled cuts.

It would be in the industry's best interest if the competitive bidding bills could be attached to that larger package, Bachenheimer says.

But she adds accomplishing that feat means additional stakeholder support from among the industry's rank and file is a must.