WASHINGTON — Against the backdrop of inauguration hoopla
and confirmation hearings for President Obama's cabinet nominees,
the 111th Congress has been busy with a flurry of new bills that
could affect HME business.
On the larger health care front, Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has unveiled the committee's plan for
the nation's economic stimulus bill, including a number of
wide-ranging health care provisions. In the House, a portion of the
massive bill, which also includes funds for health information
technology, is expected to reach the floor this week.
A reauthorization of the State
Children's Health Insurance Program — which threatened
oxygen and power wheelchairs in Congress' last wrangle over
expansion of the program — is also making its way through the
legislative morass, this time without any HME provisions (see
Industry Rallies
against New Threat to Home Oxygen, HomeCare Monday,
Aug. 6, 2007).
But there are plenty of other legislative proposals for
providers to keep up with, some considered a boon to home care,
others not so much.
— On Jan. 21, just days before CMS' advised Jan. 31
sign-up deadline for accreditation, Reps. Marion Berry, D-Ark., and
Jerry Moran, R-Kan., introduced a bill to exempt pharmacists from
the Medicare accreditation requirement. While the agency has
exempted some "eligible professionals," pharmacists are not on the
list. Commenting on the bill (H.R. 616), Berry said the hefty
accreditation requirements are a particular burden for rural
pharmacists and the beneficiaries who rely on them. For more, see
Bill
Would Exempt Pharmacists from Accreditation.
— On Jan. 16, the
target="_blank">Medicare Home Infusion Therapy Coverage Act of
2009 was reintroduced concurrently in the Senate (S. 254) and
the House (H.R. 574). The bill would close a gap in current
coverage where the medicines used in infusions to treat serious
diseases are covered, but not the services or equipment needed to
deliver the home therapy. The bill calls for coverage of
infusion-related services, supplies and equipment under Medicare
Part B. Coverage of the drugs used in infusions would remain under
Part D.
Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and
Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Timothy Murphy, R-Pa., put the
proposed legislation back in play. According to the lawmakers, the
lack of coverage forces patients to remain in hospitals or nursing
homes longer than necessary to receive their treatments,
compromising their health and costing the health care system more
than it should.
"Unnecessary institutional treatment simply makes no sense when
patients can be treated in the comfort of their home, and at a
lower cost to Medicare," said Snowe. "Home infusion therapy is
covered by private insurers because they see the tremendous value,
and Medicare beneficiaries deserve no less," added Lincoln.
View the text of the
target="_blank">S. 254 bill as a PDF. For information on the
National Home
Infusion Association's Legislative Hill Day March 5 visit
NHIA's Web
site.
— With providers still reeling from a final rule issued
Dec. 29 that requires a $50,000 surety bond to participate in
Medicare, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R- Fla., introduced a bill (
target="_blank">H.R. 203) on Jan. 6 that would increase the
bond amount to $500,000. The bill has been referred to the House
Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees. While
Washington-watchers say it is unlikely the proposal will see any
action, "this position is another finger pointed at DME suppliers,"
said Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of the National Association of
Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers.
Last year, Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and five other senators
also introduced a $500,000 surety bond bill. But after an influx of
calls and emails from industry groups saying the measure would
cause undue hardships on small providers, the senators quickly said
they would reconsider (see Fast Grassroots Action
Stalls Surety Bond Legislation, HomeCare Monday, Feb.
25, 2008).
View the text of the Stearns bill, called the
target="_blank">Medicare Fraud Prevention Act of 2009, as a
PDF.
— On Jan. 14, several House and Senate Democrats jointly
introduced a bill called the
target="_blank">Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging
America Act (S. 245). The legislation would address the growing
shortage of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals
trained in geriatric medicine. Among other things, the bill would
expand geriatrics training for home health aides, other direct care
workers and family caregivers who provide the lion's share of
daily, hands-on care for older Americans. The bill is modeled after
legislation that Kohl, chair of the Senate Special Committee on
Aging, introduced late last year. Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.,
and Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., joined in
introducing the bill, which has been referred to the Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
View the text of the target="_blank">S. 254 bill as a PDF.
— Meanwhile, the
target="_blank">National Alliance for Caregiving and Caring.com have called
on Congress for a bailout, asking that 1 percent of the economic
stimulus package be targeted toward supporting family caregivers.
While the still-deteriorating economy has hit all Americans, it has
hit this group harder, the organizations said. "Family caregivers
are struggling to pay their own bills and, increasingly, those of
their loved ones as well; expenses continue to rise and the hours
of care they provide each day continue to go uncompensated."
The average caregiver now spends $5,534 a year out-of-pocket for
caregiving expenses, a statement from the organizations said. "Like
Wall Street, the auto industry and homeowners, family caregivers
need help from Congress to make it through 2009."
Although a number of bills have been introduced in recent years
that would provide tax incentives to help offset caregiving
expenses, none have passed, so the organizations are calling
directly on President Obama for results. According to Gail Gibson
Hunt, president and CEO of the NAC, the president "cared for his
mother and grandmother and knows how difficult it is to provide
caregiving on top of other family responsibilities."
