LAS VEGAS--The industry's hard push on H.R. 3559, also known as the Hobson-Tanner bill, continues.

"We are now up to 92 co-sponsors, and we have gotten another six verbal commitments, so that should bring the total to 98," said Pride Mobility's Wayne Grau, who is leading a nationwide effort to boost support for the measure. "We need about 100 to 105 co-sponsors in order to have the Senate write a companion bill," Grau said, adding that "we hope to get that process started in about two weeks."

Grau said anger from HME providers over the recently passed Deficit Reduction Act, which contains a 36-month rental cap on home oxygen equipment, has fueled grassroots interest in H.R. 3559. Since passage of the DRA, Grau said, "we're seeing more and more dealers getting involved--and that's what needs to happen."

Grau has been traveling the country to educate lawmakers about the Hobson-Tanner bill, which would soften the blow of DME competitive bidding. "We've held 170 meetings in 30 states, and by mid-April we will have 300 meetings done," he said.

When he meets with congressional representatives on a district level, Grau explained, "most say they have never met with anyone from the DME industry ... and they have absolutely no idea what we do, so we really have to go in and show them what we do and how we help patients and how we save the government money."

The meetings are having positive results, Grau said, especially when he is accompanied by local providers. The lawmakers "want to know how [competitive bidding] is going to hurt their constituents and hurt the patients in their district, and they want to hear from local businesses on how it is going to hurt them. It really gets the point across that it's not just one person that's unhappy about this--it's the whole industry," Grau said.

One of the most important things providers can do, he continued, is to educate their own member of Congress about H.R. 3559. "We're eventually going to need 200 co-signers for the House bill and at least 51 co-signers for the companion bill in the Senate" to have a chance at passage, he said.

"We're working closely with [the American Association for Homecare] to do the follow-up on these meetings, and with this two-pronged approach, we've really been able to see the number of co-sponsors rise," he said.

The text of H.R. 3559 is available at http://thomas.loc.gov.

For a list of current co-sponsors, visit www.aahomecare.org.

For more information on meetings with legislators, contact Wayne Grau at (603) 438-9169 or e-mail wgrau@pridemobility.com.