WASHINGTON — In a July 15 letter addressed to House leadership and copied to all U.S. representatives, the American Association for Homecare and 57 other HME and patient advocacy organizations called for passage of H.R. 3790 to end competitive bidding.
"The elimination of the bidding program will prevent the needless closing of DME facilities, prevent the layoff of employees and ensure high-quality service and equipment that Medicare beneficiaries have become accustomed to receiving," read the letter signed by Tyler J. Wilson, president of AAHomecare. "Moreover, home medical equipment providers will be able to maintain their critical role in reducing the nation's health care costs by allowing beneficiaries to stay in their homes with the products and services on which they depend."
Introduced in October by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., H.R. 3790 would repeal Medicare's DMEPOS bidding program, replacing it instead with a series of payment reductions for providers. The bill, scored at $9.6 billion by the Congressional Budget Office, has since garnered bipartisan support from a majority of House members, now standing at 252 cosponsors. Industry leaders are working to gain a companion bill in the Senate.
Based on results of the Round 1 rebid, CMS officials estimated the competitive bidding program would save Medicare $17 billion over 10 years.
The text of the letter follows in its entirety:
We, the undersigned organizations, strongly support Representative Kendrick Meek's legislation, H.R. 3790, which would end the Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment (DME) in a budget-neutral manner. We urge Congress to pass this important legislation immediately. Our national, state and local organizations believe that this program is fundamentally flawed and will create significant obstacles to patient care while threatening the homecare infrastructure for our nation's seniors and disabled.
As our nation's medical system contends with the daunting challenge of providing coverage to an additional 30 million Americans while Medicare prepares for more than 70 million baby boomers to become Medicare eligible, now is not the time to prohibit 90 percent of homecare providers from serving Medicare beneficiaries. Such a move will harm patients by reducing access to homecare services and compromising the quality of care these beneficiaries receive.
According to physicians, clinicians and hospital case managers, the bidding program will disrupt the continuum of care by restricting patients from going to their providers of choice in order to receive the appropriate items and services that they require.
The home medical equipment (HME) sector is dedicated to working with Congress to ensure H.R. 3790 will replace the troubled bidding program with a series of payment reductions for home medical equipment providers, ensuring that CBO-projected savings are met.
This legislation has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. The elimination of the bidding program will prevent the needless closing of DME facilities, prevent the layoff of employees and ensure high-quality service and equipment that Medicare beneficiaries have become accustomed to receiving. Moreover, home medical equipment providers will be able to maintain their critical role in reducing the nation's health care costs by allowing beneficiaries to stay in their homes with the products and services on which they depend.
Once again, we strongly urge you to take immediate action to stop the flawed competitive bidding program and pass this legislation which would terminate the program in a manner that achieves the same projected savings for Medicare.
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue. We look forward to working with you to protect Medicare beneficiaries' access to the home medical equipment and services that they need.
Respectfully,
Tyler J. Wilson
President
Homecare Community Organizations Supporting H.R. 3790:
1. Accessible Home Improvement of America
2. Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America
3. Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association
4. The ALS Association
5. American Association for Homecare
6. American Association of People with Disabilities
7. Arizona Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
8. Association of Indiana Home Medical Equipment Suppliers
9. Big Sky Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers
10. California Association of Medical Equipment Product
Suppliers
11. Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio
12. Colorado Association for Medical Equipment Services
13. Committee to Save Independent HME Suppliers, LLC
14. Florida Alliance of Home Care Services
15. Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers
16. Health Industry Distributors Association
17. Home Care Alliance of Virginia, Inc.
18. Illinois Association for Medical Equipment Services
19. Jersey Association of Medical Equipment Services
20. Kentucky Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
21. Ms.Wheelchair Virginia
22. Maryland National Capital Homecare Association
23. The MED Group
24. The MED Group-Respiratory Network
25. The MED Group-Rehab Network
26. Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
27. Michigan Home Health Association
29. Muscular Dystrophy Association
30. National Association for Home Care & Hospice
31. National Association for the Support of Long Term Care
32. National Association of Independent Medical Equipment
Suppliers
33. National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology
34. National Council on Independent Living
35. National Emphysema/COPD Association
36. National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers
37. National Spinal Cord Injury Association
38. Nationwide Respiratory
39. Nevada Association of Medical Product Suppliers
40. New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association
41. New York Medical Equipment Providers Association
42. North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services
43. Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services
44. Ohio Council for Home Care and Hospice
45. Orthotics Prosthetics Groups of America
46. Pacific Association for Medical Equipment Services
47. Partners in Healthcare of Virginia, LLC
48. Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers
49. South Carolina Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
50. Texas Alliance of Homecare Services
51. U.S. Rehab
52. United Spinal Association
53. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
54. VGM & Associates
55. The VGM Group, Inc.
56. Virginia Association of Durable Medical Equipment
Companies
57. West Virginia Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
58. Wisconsin Association of Medical Equipment Services
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