Just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping Medicare reform bill on Nov. 22, political commentator Al Hunt told comrades on CNN's “The Capital Gang” that it was appropriate the measure had passed during Thanksgiving week because, he said, this bill “is a real turkey.”
While Hunt was addressing his concerns about the gutted benefits and high costs associated with the controversial legislation, which passed the Senate three days later, his quip was particularly fitting for those portions of the package that deal with DME.
Though the final version of the bill will require interpretation (as legislative language so often does), the major points on DME are clear: There will be a CPI freeze on DME beginning next year, followed by phase-in of competitive bidding in 2007. There will be reimbursement cuts on a string of products. Not to mention reduced reimbursement for inhalation drugs. Or competitive bidding on infusion drugs. Or codification of elements of CMS' “Operation Wheeler Dealer,” the agency's crackdown on fraud and abuse of the Medicare power wheelchair benefit.
As political momentum swung first one way, then the other, and back again on the prospects for Medicare reform and various home health and DME provisions, our office received calls and letters from providers large and small expressing dismay at legislators' attitude toward the home medical equipment industry and its customers. Don't they understand that competitive bidding will limit patient access to care, providers asked? Don't they understand what our clients will lose in terms of quality and service? Don't they understand that by squeezing profits out of HME they could be squeezing us out of business?
Actually, what the nation's lawmakers do understand about the industry and its service to Medicare beneficiaries seems questionable based on the measures that ended up in the reform bill. The new rules will be challenging, to say the least. Even so, the providers who contacted us say they will figure out a way to stay in business, to grow their business and to make a profit — for the sake of their companies and their customers.
We've all heard the saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” In this case, with the tough turkey that Congress has handed HME, providers will just have to fix a big ol' bowl of giblet gravy.
HomeCare salutes the American Association for Homecare, along with the state associations, buying groups, manufacturers and other organizations that worked so hard on the industry's behalf — and every single provider who spent time and money to make a phone call, send an e-mail or travel to Washington to try to affect the outcome of Medicare reform. The industry is stronger for your efforts.
