INDIANAPOLIS--A bill requiring Indiana HME licensure is making its way through the state legislature with support from the state Medicaid agency.

"[The Association for Indiana Home Medical Equipment Services] has been working for the last three years to get HMEs licensed," said Jean Macdonald, AIHMES' director of public policy. HME licensure had stalled until the state attorney general's office made HME fraud prevention one of its priorities last year, she said. Since, the licensure bill "has sailed through the Senate, and it is now in the House."

She added that the bill has strong support from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, which runs Indiana Medicaid. The bill itself lists specific equipment that would require provider licensure, including wheelchairs, hospital beds and oxygen. Those selling DME not mentioned in the bill, such as canes and walkers, would not need a license.

In other Indiana news, FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob has proposed ways to curb Medicaid spending growth by $76 million. Besides a freeze in provider payments and discounted drug purchasing, Roob wants the state to buy wheelchairs and other DME "in bulk," though details have yet to be released.

AIHMES members will be meeting with government officials soon "to clarify the situation," Macdonald said, adding that Medicaid officials have "been very willing to listen and take our counsel."

To view the licensure legislation, visit the Indiana General Assembly Web site by clicking here.