AAHomecare urges Congressional oversight of bidding

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 7, 2013—The American Association for Homecare has been pushing House and Senate lawmakers to get some answers from CMS about Round 2 of competitive bidding, while at the same time the association is building its case that last week’s pricing announcement is leading to an almost certain implosion of the country’s home care system.

The dire outlook for home care companies grows by the day. Providers who have been serving Medicare beneficiaries for years are struggling to sort out the future picture and many seem convinced that there is no way a supplier of home medical products can continue under the current bidding program. Actions being taken by AAHomecare include:

Lobbying Congress

The association’s team of in-house government affairs experts and the lobbying firm employed by AAHomecare have been meeting with and otherwise contacting House and Senate offices to voice alarm and outrage about the Round 2 prices announced last week and about the overall harm to the homecare community caused by the current bidding program. As CMS briefs Congress on Round 2, AAHomecare has been collecting evidence of the problems and sharing that information with lawmakers so they can ask the right questions, get accurate answers, and give competitive bidding the oversight it sorely needs.

Evaluating a court challenge

The association is hiring a law firm to review the competitive bidding law and the actions taken by CMS to determine whether there is a basis for a legal challenge. AAHomecare will carefully assess whether CMS has met the requirements of the competitive bidding statute and the implementing regulations. Legal experts will also investigate all constitutional arguments and every other opportunity to shine a bright light on the program and get it reviewed by the courts.

Raising awareness in the press

AAHomecare knows that the home care community’s criticisms of competitive bidding must also be made in the media, both to the national media and to the journalists in every community across the country likely to feel the impact of competitive bidding. Since the Round 2 announcement on January 30, the association’s two press releases about the bidding program have been sent to hundreds of newspapers and other media outlets. The press statements have countered the naïve and rosy picture painted by CMS about Round 2 and have pushed back by asking “at what cost?” will the unsustainable prices become the new reimbursement rates for home care.

Helping home care companies advocate

To protect and defend home care, the association knows it must convert the thousands of home care companies in this country into advocates who can tell positive stories about home care and describe the devastating impact of the current bidding program. AAHomecare is leading the charge, but home care providers and manufacturers and other stakeholders also have to tell their story and push their members of Congress for changes to the bidding program. The association has been helping to give those who are concerned about homecare the tools they need to contact Congress , make their arguments succinctly and get responses to their questions. If you need talking points, or supporting documents with facts and figures about competitive bidding, or contact information in order to make calls to Capitol Hill, visit www.aahomecare.org or contact Gordon Barnes at [email protected]. See the February 5 AAHomecare Washington News Alert for step-by-step guidelines on what home care companies need to be doing now to get the word to Congress and the media.

Getting Medicare beneficiaries engaged

To get Congress to act and make changes to the bidding program, the home care community will need the support of all the Medicare beneficiaries current and future who stand to lose as they rely on a network of homecare companies that won’t be able to provide the products and services they need. Beneficiaries tell a compelling story and their voices can be loud and have a big impact on Capitol Hill. AAHomecare is working with national consumer and patient groups so they are aware of the trouble ahead. The association is helping home care companies and state organizations to connect with their local organizations so those chapters can be activated on behalf of the fight for good home care.

Something AAHomecare has not and will not be doing: the association will take no role in advising home care companies to take any particular course of action with respect to Round 2 contracts they may have been offered. AAHomecare will not be involved in any activity that could be interpreted as an unreasonable restraint on trade and thus in violation of the antitrust laws. We encourage all companies to be mindful of the antitrust laws and to avoid any activity that could run afoul of those restrictions. The association’s antitrust compliance policy can be found here . Other quick thoughts on the fight to overturn the bidding program:

• Industry Fly-in to Washington, D.C.: There is no single approach to lobbying that is perfect. Some home care companies contact their members of Congress through the local district offices. Other providers like to band together and fly to Washington to make personal visits to Capitol Hill. In those cases, AAHomecare stands ready to assist-whether in helping to make the appointments or to join in the Hill visit. Other companies prefer emails and phone calls, and invite their members of Congress to their facility so they can better understand how homecare works. All of the approaches just discussed are effective. The only wrong approach is to do nothing. While AAHomecare won’t be conducting a Washington fly-in in the next few weeks, that could change as the situation on Capitol Hill changes. Right now time is of the essence and the association wants the home care community focused on getting their concerns and comments to Congress.

• Join AAHomecare: If you’re reading this press release and are not already a member of AAHomecare, you should ask yourself “Am I doing enough to protect and defend the home care community on Capitol Hill and at CMS?” The association needs your membership support. It is not enough to assume that some other home care companies will do the heavy lifting and get involved in AAHomecare. There is no free ride and every company that fails to join diminishes, by their lack of membership, the opportunity for AAHomecare to do even more to battle back against competitive bidding.

The entire AAHomecare staff is available to help members. If you need help and don’t know whom to reach out to, contact Tyler Wilson at [email protected] or 202-372-0753.