Letter to the editor: ADMEA goes to Washington (with video)

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6, 2013—Talk is cheap, meaning it is easy to talk about something but harder to actually do it. Not for the three members of The Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association (ADMEA) who made the trek to Capitol Hill to meet with Legislators. “I have been going to the Hill for years; I’m going to give it one more shot,” said Don Jones, owner of Southern Medical Equipment. “The Home Medical Equipment (HME) industry is facing the most challenging time in the last decade. The time for talking is over; it’s time to take action.”

On February 27 members of ADMEA went to Washington, DC to meet with lawmakers regarding The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Round 2 Competitive Bidding implementation for DME. The meetings with lawmakers were part of an HME industry special fly-In. The goal was educate lawmakers as to the adverse effects on the State of Alabama’s economy as a result of Medicare’s cost cutting scheme.

The members of ADMEA who met with lawmakers were three owners: Don Jones, Southern Medical Equipment, Cullman; Mark Story, HealthMark Home Medical Equipment, Selma; and Jonathan Temple, owner of OxyMed, LLC, Birmingham. Together these companies represent about 55 employees and seven locations in the state of Alabama.

Our goal was to present a real life picture of what is happening and what is going to happen as a result of the drastic fee schedule reduction announced by CMS in late January. CMS announced payment amounts that are on average somewhere around 45 percent under the current Medicare allowable. These cuts could result in the loss of thousands of jobs and the potential closing of hundreds of DME companies in Alabama. We asked our representatives to delay competitive bidding.

“We needed to speak in a language that lawmakers can understand. They understand the loss of jobs and the closing of hardworking small businesses in Alabama,” said Jones. “No state economy can endure the loss of more jobs in an already weak economy. We are already fighting the high cost of doing business; on top of that we have to deal with looming implementation of competitive bidding.”

Mark Story of HealthMark is concerned about the infrastructure of small providers “We have always been there when our patients have needed us, whether it’s in the middle of the night or during an emergency. Competitive bidding will destroy the DME infrastructure in our state and the network of neighborhood providers, like HealthMark. We truly care about our patients and the extras we do for them are going to be gone, if competitive bidding is implemented.”

ADMEA members met with all the members of Congress or their Health Care liaisons and the states two Senators Health Legislative Assistants. The message was clear; Competitive Bidding will cause great harm to our state economy.

The visitors were well received; in fact some of the representative’s health care liaisons commented that they had received many phone calls from constituents and DME providers in Alabama regarding this issue. They were eager to hear and learn more; overall they were positive about taking action on the DME industries behalf.

Congressman Mike Rogers was taken aback when he was informed that out of state companies with no location and in many cases, companies that have never been in the DME business were awarded contracts in Alabama. When asked to write a letter to CMS urging them to delay competitive bidding, Rogers suggested that it would be better for the Alabama delegation sign on to one letter. It was music to our ears. Currently ADMEA is working with Congressman Rogers’s office to present the letter to CMS.

All legislators were asked to sign on to the letter to CMS that Rep. Rogers suggested. “We feel like we have a great shot at getting CMS’s attention with all of the Alabama Legislators signing on to this letter,” said Story. “I feel like we got a lot accomplished on the Hill.”

About the author: Jonathan Temple is president of OxyMed, LLC, in Birmingham, Ala. He can be reached at 205-401-6358 or www.oxymed1.com.