Meek Bill at 176 and Counting

WASHINGTON — As of Friday, the official cosponsor count
for H.R. 3790 had climbed to 176. Introduced in October by Rep.
Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., the bill would repeal competitive bidding for
DMEPOS.

Among those representatives signing on last week:

• Robert Andrews, D-N.J.
• Gresham Barrett, R-S.C.
• Christopher Carney, D-Pa.
• Susan Davis, D-Calif.
• Walter Jones, R-N.C.
• Steve King, R-Iowa
• Christopher Lee, R-N.Y.
• John Lewis, D-Ga.
• Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill.
• Tom Price, R-Ga.
• Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga.
• Jeff Miller, R-Fla.

According to Rob Brant, president of the American Medical
Equipment Providers of America, “including Rep. Meek, that means
only 41 more are needed for a majority in the House.”

Brant said new cosponsors also include Rep. Mike Quigley,
D-Ill., whose office was visited last month during the group’s
Illinois In-District Day for the bill. Quigley signed on Thursday
after members of the Illinois Association of Medical Equipment
Services revisited his Washington office during AAHomecare’s
Legislative Conference earlier this month.

The list also includes Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, the first
representative to sign on from Oregon.

AMEPA, AAHomecare and numerous other industry groups are urging
providers to continue the industry’s grassroots effort to gain
legislators’ support for the bill.

During an address at the association’s Washington conference,
CMS’ Jonathan Blum, director of the Center for Medicare Management,
said the agency sees the bidding program as a way to address both a
broken payment policy and “a tremendous supply of providers
…

“To our minds,” Blum continued, “no other program but
competitive bidding can ensure that we have the best possible price
and also the highest quality providers at the same time.”

In a statement following the conference, AAHomecare said, “It is
imperative that HME advocates continue to push hard to educate
their members of Congress about the misguided bidding program and
add cosponsors to H.R. 3790, which would eliminate the program in a
fiscally responsible manner.”

View the language of the bill and the current list of cosponsors
at thomas.loc.gov.

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stories.