AAHomecare Issues Statement on Alex Azar’s Confirmation

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 24, 2018)—This afternoon, the U.S. Senate confirmed Alex Azar to serve as Secretary of the Dept. of Health & Human Services by a vote of 55–43.

Statement on today’s confirmation from Tom Ryan, president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare):

AAHomecare and the home medical equipment (HME) community are gratified to see Alex Azar confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). His combination of previous high-level experience at HHS and background as an effective and accomplished health care executive makes him uniquely qualified to help resolve significant challenges facing our nation’s healthcare delivery system.

We are particularly heartened by the Secretary’s remarks at his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing affirming his interest in addressing problems caused by the expanded application of bidding-derived Medicare reimbursement rates beyond the program’s original scope, and we urge him to push for the quick release of the Interim Final Rule under consideration at OMB that would provide relief in that area. In addition, we ask the Secretary to take a leadership role in fixing significant flaws in the design of the Medicare bidding program before the next bidding round takes place.

AAHomecare and the home medical equipment community look forward to working with Secretary Azar to make sure that our nation’s seniors, people with disabilities, and individuals with chronic conditions have access to HME products and services that can keep them at home with their families and principal caregivers.

Visit aahomecare.org for more information.