GLENVIEW, Ill.--The Illinois HomeCare Council (IHCC) has scheduled a Virtual Lobby Day on Wednesday to educate legislators about negative home care provisions in the 2006 federal budget reconciliation bill.

S. 1932, which is currently scheduled for a House vote on Feb. 1, would cap oxygen rentals at 36 months (see HomeCare Monday, Jan. 17) and cap rentals of most other DME, excluding power wheelchairs, at 13 months. The measure already has been approved by the Senate.

IHCC's Legislative Affairs Committee is encouraging all stakeholders in the state to contact their members of Congress electronically on Wednesday. According to IHCC, the idea is to contact legislators shortly before they return to Washington so the issue will be fresh on their minds. Congress reconvenes Jan. 31.

"Our goal is 1,500 letters," said Debbie Trueblood Witt, government relations manager for IHCC. According to Witt, IHCC generated more than 1,000 letters on a previous virtual lobby day.

"Virtual Lobby Day is a way for all IHCC members to participate in grass roots advocacy in Washington, D.C., without ever leaving their desks," a notice from the association reads. "Members can go online and send form letters to their legislators advocating to oppose the federal budget bill and the harmful provisions to both home health and DME/HME."

The event also is intended to encourage providers to contact their state representatives in Springfield to support HB 4223, a bill that would provide a phased-in rate increase under home health Medicaid reimbursement.