ALEXANDRIA, Va.--Last week, the American Association for Homecare announced its advocacy priorities for 2005. They include:

--Protect HME and home health from further cuts in any legislation passed during 2005.
--Counter competitive bidding in light of recent reimbursement cuts, and expand the focus on the CMS program advisory oversight committee (PAOC) on competitive bidding.
--Protect the dispensing fee amount of $57 per monthly supply for inhalation drug therapies.
--Maintain the market basket increase and rural add-on for home health services and oppose co-payments for home health.
--Change the exclusionary rule, which compares Medicare and private charges and, according to the association, could exclude Medicare providers whose charges are considered excessive based on that comparison.
--Preserve current reimbursement for stationary oxygen systems in light of efforts to move to a modality-specific payment model.

The association announced it would tackle additional areas as they emerge. Work in home health will also focus on raising awareness of the home health benefit among the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, preserving home health benefits in Medicaid and creating opportunities in the areas of pay-for-performance and telehealth.

For more news, visit this week's HomeCare Monday, available at www.homecaremonday.com.