ATLANTA — Congress may be in recess for the July 4th
holiday, but home medical equipment providers cannot afford to take
a vacation from lobbying their legislators, industry leaders warned
last week.
"Congress is considering devastating payment reductions and
policy changes that will have a severe and negative effect on HME
providers and the patients we serve. These issues include allowing
competitive bidding to move forward, significant cuts to the home
oxygen benefit and the elimination of the first month purchase
option for all power wheelchairs," the American Association for
Homecare reported in its Wednesday newsletter.
A House version of the health care reform bill would eliminate
the PWC purchase option as a "pay-for," and several Wall Street
reports surfaced last week that, in addition, the Senate might
include a 30
percent reduction to oxygen on its cut list.
"The Senate Finance Committee continues to work on their bill,
and we probably won't know all the cuts they are proposing until
after the July 4 recess," said Michael Reinemer, AAHomecare vice
president, communication and policy. "That gives HME stakeholders
more time to express concerns about the oxygen and power wheelchair
cuts which we know are on the table."
AAHomecare Board Member Carter Fuller, president of Fuller
Rehabilitation in Ringgold, Ga., told HomeCare Monday
he thought the first-month purchase option had been permanently
shelved last year. But legislators "are grabbing everything they
can to save money," he said.
"I guess the moral of the story is everything is on the table.
They will destroy some good things they have got going to take care
of this health reform bill," Fuller said.
"It seems like durable medical equipment is always on the hit
list," he added. "No matter that we have surety bonds and
accreditation and we are trying to clean up our industry and be the
model industry for health care. It doesn't matter. They just keep
on."
Gary Gilberti of Baltimore-based Chesapeake
Rehab agreed. "I've talked to a lot of [legislators] who
believe power wheelchairs can be rented," said Gilberti, who is
also president of the
target="_blank">National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab
Technology. "We have tried to tell them this isn't a good deal
for either the provider or the beneficiary."
But lawmakers don't seem to get it, he continued. "Certainly
people ought to contact their reps over the recess," Gilberti said.
"I think we are going to have a big battle coming up when they come
back, and we need to hit them with all we've got."
Fuller is so disturbed that he recently sent a letter to fellow
members of the Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Services
about the PWC threat.
"Unfortunately, this policy would adversely affect beneficiary
access and create a catastrophic situation for [power mobility
device] providers due to the immense cash flow disruption during a
time when access to supplemental capital is extremely difficult to
obtain," he wrote.
Fuller noted the power mobility segment has suffered cuts of
almost 37 percent in the last few years. "Do they just want to get
rid of the [power mobility] benefit?" he questioned. From his
perspective, that isn't right or just for beneficiaries who depend
on the benefit and who have paid into the system for years.
"We need Congress to focus on not cutting … power mobility
anymore and let us be the solution to the problem," he said.
Gilberti said he is hopeful that Congress would at least back
off from eliminating the purchase option for Group 3 chairs. "We
think it's wrong for everybody — for power mobility across
the board," Gilberti said. "But it's certainly injurious to the
beneficiaries of Group 3 who need power."
"We have to get out and meet with anybody who will listen," said
Fuller. "We need to stick together and [tell them], 'Don't hurt
oxygen, either.' We're trying to help folks in the home and we need
to stick together on this. We need to get with these lawmakers and
educate them if we want to come out on top."
