WASHINGTON--The American Association for Homecare said last week that it plans to launch a "comprehensive public awareness campaign to promote the mission of the home care industry."

To raise funds for the campaign, the association will hold a "Stand Up for Home Care" reception at Medtrade on Oct. 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Orlando Peabody Hotel.

According to Mike Reinemer, vice president, communications and policy, AAHomecare has been working in some states to make local consumer press aware of the industry's circumstances. Members have also intensified efforts in educating federal legislators about the impact of competitive bidding and reimbursement cuts on HME.

While those efforts are ongoing, Reinemer said, "we are looking for additional resources to ratchet it up a couple of notches to see how we might be able to break through the clutter in the media." With all of the issues in today's news--the war in Iraq and children's health among them--Reinemer said it's hard for home care issues to attract the attention of the press, consumers or those in Congress.

"These are complicated issues," Reinemer said, "and the reality is you have to boil them down to something that is easy to understand. You can't do justice to them in a couple of sound bites."

As a result, he said, the association has begun a series of targeted press conferences in states whose congressional members may play key roles in decisions affecting Medicare. Last week, AAHomecare and the Council for Quality Respiratory Care teamed up to hold teleconferences with consumer press in Florida and Kentucky. With the help of the Big Sky Association for Medical Equipment Services, another is being planned in Montana, the home state of Sen. Max Baucus.

Baucus chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which is now in conference with members of the House to reconcile differences over funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The House version of the measure includes provisions that would cut Medicare's home oxygen rental cap from 36 to 18 months and eliminate the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs. The Senate version includes no Medicare cuts.

Reinemer said the current press conferences are focused on how beneficiaries would be affected by the oxygen cuts. In Florida, for example, the associations told the press that an estimated 125,000 seniors are using the home oxygen benefit and that 41,000 Floridians would be directly impacted by the 18-month cap. In Kentucky, 34,800 beneficiaries currently use the home oxygen benefit and 11,400 would be affected by the proposed cap.

Nationwide, the associations estimate that nearly half of the more than 1 million seniors who rely on the benefit would be affected by the oxygen cuts, which amount to nearly $2 billion over five years.

"The House has had their say, and now the actions of the Senate Finance Committee will be critical over the next weeks and months," Reinemer said. "We need to get the word out about the threat to oxygen and to power wheelchair policy."

Specific elements of the public awareness campaign won't be decided until the association knows how much money it will have to work with, Reinemer said. "In all likelihood, it will probably be a fairly targeted effort because in the media world [millions] don't go very far--and we won't have millions," he said, adding that the association hopes to develop tools for providers so they can help in raising consumer awareness about home care in their local areas.

For information about the Stand Up for Home Care fundraiser, e-mail Kim Kianka at kimk@aahomecare.org or visit the Calendar of Events section at www.aahomecare.org to download an event form.