WASHINGTON — The American Association for Homecare and the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers have agreed on a compromise package born of a meeting of stakeholders with a common interest in home oxygen reimbursement relief but disparate ideas on how to ease the current crisis.
In an email to its members late Friday, AAHomecare said, "The association's executive committee has looked at the oxygen provisions that are included in the compromise and believes that the proposal is consistent with the association's goal for oxygen reform."
On Tuesday, groups representing factions of the home oxygen community huddled in Washington to air differences that have lately divided them.
In addition to AAHomecare and NAIMES — which had squared off over some provisions in H.R. 3220, a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., that would overhaul Medicare's oxygen benefit — participating organizations included the National Home Oxygen Patients Association, the National Association for Medical Direction in Respiratory Care, the American Association for Respiratory Care, the American Thoracic Surgeons, the American Lung Association, CSI: HME and the Coalition for Quality Respiratory Care.
In a day-long meeting held at the ALA offices, the groups managed to hammer out an agreement. According to AAHomecare, the compromise would:
- Eliminate the current 36-month cap on oxygen payments;
- Recognize the services that are provided as part of the oxygen benefit;
- Create a mechanism to show cost transparency that is less burdensome than that called for in the current provision under the Ross bill; and
- Preserve the definition of oxygen companies as "suppliers" instead of "providers" as proposed in H.R. 3220.
The compromise proposal does not include:
- Provisions related to geographic adjustments; or
- Removing oxygen from competitive bidding. That issue would be addressed in separate legislation designed to eliminate the bidding program.
"This is an important step in the right direction, which means getting all stakeholders in the oxygen community working together toward a common goal," Tyler Wilson, the association's president, told members. However, he added, "After stakeholders reach agreement, many additional steps in the legislative process will remain before reforms are enacted or providers can take comfort."
Ross, a former HME owner, has told H.R. 3220 supporters he would work to get an oxygen reform plan inserted as an amendment to the Energy and Commerce Committee's health care reform bill. The committee passed its bill before Congress' summer recess but still has more than 50 amendments to consider.
Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of NAIMES, said the organization would back the oxygen compromise.
In a NAIMES update, Stanfield called Tuesday's face-to-face a "very positive meeting [resulting] in mutual concessions and compromises from all sides," and said a revised draft amendment would be sent for approval by the respective boards and executive committees in hopes it could "ultimately be included in health care reform legislation."
"We are pleased to support the compromise proposal," Stanfield said. "We look forward to supporting the final language and joining forces with AAHomecare, state organizations and the rest of the supplier community to protect the greater good of the entire industry."
