I like to think that the home care community is one big family,
all in the same boat. We are, of course. But it's also easy to see
the industry as a diverse collection of different and sometimes
opposing interests. For instance, at a glance, the home health and
the durable medical equipment sectors may not seem to have much in
common.
So it's useful to remember, as a large and important community,
what we do have in common. By speaking with a unified voice as
often as we can, we can help our important policy and advocacy
messages to ring loudly, clearly and memorably in Washington.
Here are the three essential characteristics we share:
- The Home Care Patient
We all serve patients who receive quality care in their homes,
which is a broad and a powerful bond. The location of our patients
distinguishes us in important ways in the eyes of the public and in
terms of how care is provided and paid for. This connects all of
our lines of business, services, therapies and products.
As providers and professionals in home care, we also represent a
trend toward providing cost-effective care that can help the nation
address spiraling health care costs as well as the unique needs of
the growing ranks of older Americans.
Just as we have home care champions in Congress who go to bat
for us, you are the champions of home care patients in your
communities. Let's not lose sight of that.
Recent government legislation and regulations have targeted
specific therapies and items for drastic cuts in Medicare
reimbursement. Examples include the cuts for certain durable
medical equipment items scheduled to start in January, the deep
cuts proposed for inhalation therapies and expiration of the rural
add-on for home health.
While it's important to fight for your niche, it's also
important to strengthen the larger home care community.
There are more challenges down the road. As provisions of the
Medicare Modernization Act continue to kick in, we will face a
possible massive shift away from fee-for-service under the Medicare
Advantage program. Under current federal budget conditions, we can
all be sure of continuing financial pressures.
At the same time, there will be ample opportunities to create
new alliances, use new technologies and strategies and look for new
ways of providing home care.
It's a lot to ask to expand your scope of advocacy. It's hard
enough keeping up with proposed legislation, new regs, Notices of
Proposed Rule Making and the related details that directly affect
your business. But think of the larger family of providers and
manufacturers who are also in this home care boat.
All DME firms should be working — right now —
to line up cosponsors and moral support for H.R. 4491, the
Hobson-Ford bill to repeal the reimbursement cuts to oxygen,
nebulizers, hospital beds, wheelchairs, diabetic supplies and air
mattresses starting in January of 2005. But home health providers
have a stake in that, too.
Likewise, many home health providers are working —
right now — to shore up support for H.R. 4902,
introduced by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to extend the 5 percent
home health rural add-on for an additional two years to March of
2007. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has a companion bill, S. 2659.
But DME firms also have a stake in those bills.
Both bills have solid, bipartisan support, as does the
Congressional COPD Caucus, another important cause that links all
sectors of the home care community. So call and write your
members of Congress today. Remember what's at stake if we don't
respond together: the health of our patients — and the health
of our business.
Kay Cox is president and CEO of the American Association for
Homecare, Alexandria, Va. For more information about AAHomecare,
visit www.aahomecare.org, or call 703/836-6263.
