LAS VEGAS--After its January protest outside Rep. Bill Thomas' office in Bakersfield, Calif., Last Chance for Patient Choice is planning another rally, this time in Washington, D.C.--and this time much bigger.

"We hope to get about 300 to 800 beneficiaries from the Greater D.C. area--Maryland, Virginia and the New England states--and bring them in so that they have a chance to state their case," said LCPC's John Gallagher, vice president of government relations. Formed by The VGM Group, Waterloo, Iowa, LCPC is a non-profit organization that plans to file a federal lawsuit against DME competitive bidding provisions in the Medicare Modernization Act as soon as CMS announces the 10 cities where it plans to start the program.

As a leading proponent of competitive bidding--and the author of language in the Deficit Reduction Act that caps oxygen reimbursement at 36 months and transfers equipment ownership to the beneficiary--Thomas was the target of an LCPC rally on Jan. 24. With 50 marchers, the protest garnered national media attention, including coverage by NBC and ABC, and was combined with TV ads (which ran 384 times during a 10-day period) and newspaper inserts.

Now the group is gearing up for a rally in Washington to focus Congress' attention on "the onerous HME provisions of the MMA" and "the draconian oxygen cap," according to a flier.

"The [National Park Service] has given us approval to hold a rally on May 24 in Washington," said Gallagher. "The area we chose is right in back of the Capitol steps near the reflecting pond. More importantly, it's right across the street from [the Department of Health and Human Services].

"We want the secretary to be able to look out of his window and see these beneficiaries out there and understand that it's about the service that these patients receive and the fact that they are talking about taking away patient choice. They are talking about a cost shift in Medicare and Medicaid, and we're trying to educate the members of Congress about that.

"We're trying to get as many buses as we can coordinate," Gallagher continued. "We'll have first aid stations and air stations there for them, so everything will be set up for the beneficiaries."

For more information on Last Chance for Patient Choice, visit www.lastchanceforpatients.org or call (800) 642-6065.