Mr. Deary Calls Washington

If you ever thought one person couldn't make a difference when it comes to HME legislative issues, consider William Deary — and be inspired.

Deary is the CEO of Great Lakes Home Health and Hospice in Jackson, Mich. He is not a mover and shaker in the industry, he says, though he does belong to industry organizations. He doesn't hold any leadership positions in those groups and isn't known on “the Hill.” Instead, he focuses on operating his business to ensure that Great Lakes is carrying out its mission: “To provide superior quality health care in the home.”

But when Deary heard of the Deficit Reduction Act and a provision in it that requires HME providers to transfer ownership of oxygen equipment to the beneficiary after 36 months, he sprang into action.

“The provisions were extremely onerous and not well thought out,” he says. He was gravely concerned that beneficiaries, many of them elderly, would be unable to ascertain whether oxygen saturation levels were correct and concentrators were in good working order, thus placing them at risk for complications and, possibly, even death.

So he sought out Rep. Joe Schwarz, R-Mich. “I thought, ‘When a physician sees what is in this bill, he won't be able to support it,’” Deary recalls.

He was right. After hearing Deary's concerns and studying the oxygen provision, Schwarz didn't support the measure. But it passed anyway. “I called [Rep. Schwarz] the day after the bill passed. He explained to me that he had serious concerns about the oxygen cap, and he committed to looking for a legislative fix,” Deary says.

Three weeks later, Schwarz's office called him back. They asked him to come take a look at a bill the congressman had drafted to see whether it made sense from a provider's standpoint.

The bill, the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act (H.R. 5513), calls for overturning the DRA oxygen rental cap and allowing Medicare beneficiaries to continue renting their equipment to patients indefinitely, leaving ownership and servicing in the hands of their HME providers. Deary says he found it “well expressed and concise.”

“[Rep. Schwarz's] comment was, ‘How can you expect a 90-year-old grandmother to become a respiratory therapist the day that the cap expires?’” Deary says.