JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.--The Missouri Senate has approved a bill that eliminates the state Medicaid requirement to fund most adult DME.

The legislation, which removes the guarantee of a wide range of Medicaid services to the poor, passed Thursday after an intense two-day debate earlier in the week. According to reports, the changes could disqualify up to 100,000 from the government health program. The bill now makes its way over to the House, where observers expect the measure to pass with little opposition.

The bill "does not mean the state will not pay for DME," said Brady Vestal, director of home medical equipment at Citizen Memorial Health Care in Bolivar, Mo. "It just means the state is not required to [fund] DME by law."

He added that "the bill is significant because DME providers are going to be left to the whim of the [state] House Appropriations Committee for funding from year to year." And this year, Gov. Matt Blunt's budget proposal scraps most adult DME coverage from the Medicaid program.

With the Senate bill passed, Vestal, who also serves as state chairman for the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Services (MAMES), said providers will focus their lobbying efforts on the state House, which controls Missouri's purse strings. "The fight is now for appropriations," he said.

In other news, the Missouri Senate approved a bill that would create a Medicaid Reform Commission to overhaul the state health program by 2007. "Our current Medicaid system is to sunset on July 1, 2007," Vestal said. "In [fiscal] 2008, we will be looking at an entirely new Medicaid system, from enrollment to submitting claims."