ATLANTA--Respiratory providers were breathing a little easier last week after they learned that a proposed 13-month cap on rental of oxygen equipment has been taken off the table, at least for the time being.

"I'm going to sleep a lot better tonight ... At least for now it appears we have dodged a bullet," Invacare CEO Mal Mixon commented at the American Association for Homecare Humanitarian Dinner Tuesday night during Medtrade. (See Invacare's Mixon Honored at AAHomecare Fundraiser.)

Earlier this month, the HHS Office of Inspector General said that the Deficit Reduction Act's 36-month oxygen rental cap did not go far enough, and recommended that CMS work to reduce the rental period to 13 months (see HomeCare Monday, Sept. 18).

"Unfortunately, Sen. Charles Grassley, [R-Iowa], either knowingly or unknowingly, endorsed this," John Gallagher, vice president of government relations for Waterloo, Iowa-based The VGM Group, explained during a Wednesday morning session at the trade show.

Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare, had planned to turn the proposal into a Senate bill. "That's scary," Gallagher said.

But the industry reacted quickly. VGM sent out an alert to Iowa providers, the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers and VGM's more than 430 employees asking them to contact Grassley's office about the cap and the negative effect it would have on Medicare beneficiaries. According to Mixon, who called the OIG report a "biased, flawed, stupid study," both VGM and Apria Healthcare "mobilized virtually their entire workforce to make calls and send faxes" about the report.

"We won one for a change, thanks to you all, thanks to your beneficiaries, and thanks to the various industry stakeholders," Gallagher told conference attendees.

But the industry still needs to be vigilant, Gallagher reminded the audience. A lame duck session is coming up in Congress and the proposal could be reintroduced as a House bill. "We all know what goes on at the 23rd-and-a-half hour with introducing these oxygen caps," he said.