LEGISLATORS AND REGULATORS in Washington are wrestling with numerous issues that may ultimately affect your home medical equipment business. Here's a snapshot of some of the more important.

Food for Thought Some members of Congress are recommending that Medicare round out its coverage menu by adding nutritional services. Under the Medicare Medical Nutrition Therapy Act introduced by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the Health Care Financing Administration would be required to cover "nutritional diagnostic, therapy and counseling services for the purpose of disease management which are furnished by a registered dietitian or nutrition professional."

The bill, HR1187, has been introduced into the House of Representatives and nearly 200 lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors, says Suanna Bruinooge, Johnson's senior health policy adviser.

How much would the benefit cost Medicare? The Congressional Budget Office is putting together an estimate, Bruinooge says. "If that is favorable, we'll push to add it to the Medicare bill, which will likely be introduced in July."

HHAs Could Get Last Laugh THE BUZZ on Capitol Hill these days is that Congress isn't too interested in the financial woes of home health agencies because it isn't hearing any complaints from beneficiaries. But just wait, says Peter Levin, health care counsel to Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla.

Levin says Mack is planning to introduce a home health bill that would focus on helping beneficiaries-and it could come as early as this summer. And he predicts that beneficiaries will soon make their needs known. "I'm telling everybody, 'Just wait until summer,'" Levin says. (For a related story on a Congressional bill that would provide financial relief for HHAs, see page 24.)

BBA Wound Care DID CONGRESS use the meat-cleaver approach when it approved the health care reimbursement cuts in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997? A panel created by Sen. William Roth, R-Del., Senate Finance Committee chairman, is assessing whether the cuts were too deep, how they have affected beneficiaries and what the impact has been on the health care industry.

Meanwhile, more and more provider groups are jumping on the anti-BBA bandwagon. The American Hospital Association says the BBA will reduce Medicare hospital payments by $71 billion over five years, one-third more than had been projected, according to a report by the Lewin Group. AHA is proposing payment increases that would boost Medicare costs by $25 billion to $30 billion.