Registration is Open for the Washington Legislative Conference

News

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 27, 2017)—Each year the HME community comes together in Washington, D.C. to advocate and strengthen relationships in Congress. It is a critical gathering, made stronger by greater numbers of participants demonstrating how important our relatively small share of the Medicare budget is to the entire health care continuum. While we made progress in 2016 convincing more members of Congress that current Medicare rates for DME aren’t sustainable and securing a measure of relief for rural providers, it is essential that we continue pressing our issues and concerns on Capitol Hill. Even if our most likely path to a longer-term fix on rural reimbursement, meaningful improvements for the next round of competitive bidding, and excluding CRT accessories from bidding-derived pricing is likely to run through federal agencies, Congressional interest and support is essential to the process.

Registration is open now! Make the decision now to join us for the AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference, May 24–25, and help strengthen HME’s voice. Whether you’re an experienced, regular attendee of the Legislative Conference or this is your first time attending, your direct, in-person engagement with legislators and their staff members is the most effective means to advocate for better public policy for HME.

Gary Sheehan, president and CEO of Cape Medical Supply has been attending AAHomecare’s Washington Legislative Conference for more than ten years. He believes that no matter what your business plan or payer mix, there is a need to be in D.C. to share your story with our nations legislators and challenges others to make attending a priority to fight for the future:

“I view the annual trip to D.C. as a responsibility for all leaders operating within this sector,” says Sheehan. “During challenging times it’s impossible to look our team members in the face and tell them we are doing everything we can if we aren’t taking the basic steps to educate our lawmakers about our services. Medicare’s price table sets the market within our industry sector—so whether we accept Medicare or not, we have an obligation to do what we can to rationalize their pricing and policies. It’s been a tough decade for us, but now is not the time to give up the fight, now is precisely the time for our industry to come together, point out the folly of Medicare’s ways and work together for positive change.”

Is the Washington Legislative Conference a priority for your business? Tell AAHomecare why you feel attending is significant using hashtag #AAHWLC17.

Shorter Program=More Time on Capitol Hill
The Washington Legislative Conference has always served as the HME industry’s opportunity to join together to advocate and educate members of Congress. In order to accommodate the most opportunities to meet with and build relationships with your Congressional representatives, AAHomecare has shortened this year’s program, concluding the sessions at 2:00 pm on May 24.

However, informed representatives sharing the same message is critical—we will continue to offer an issue education session following lunch and include access to homecare’s top experts who will help you understand the details of the key issues during Wednesday’s issues education. AAHomecare will also, once again, schedule appointments for you and provide leave behind materials for your meetings.

Conference Price Reduced
Not only will a shorter program make the conference more accessible to business owners who find it difficult to be out of town for extended periods of time, but the new reduced price will also assist. The 2017 conference registration is half the cost of last year’s registration fees—just $49 for AAHomecare members and $99 for nonmembers.

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