A Good Thing

When this industry works together, good things happen.

Back in February, no one could have predicted that the House and Senate would approve legislation to delay and reform competitive bidding in July.

However, as the program moved toward the reality of implementation, the home care community was able to mount a massive, unified effort involving providers, patients, consumer groups and all home care stakeholders. That produced action in Congress.

At the deadline for this column, legislators in both the House and the Senate had voted to override the president’s veto of the Medicare bill, H.R. 6331, which turned the competitive bidding delay into law.

The outcome of the industry’s campaign against the bid program has been both positive and instructive. Activism has been the key ingredient to positive outcomes in home districts throughout the U.S. and up on Capitol Hill.

There are three core engines that helped drive this long legislative push:

• Washington government relations efforts are the key to intelligence- and strategy-building. AAHomecare’s government relations staff has attended countless meetings on the Hill, rounded up votes, coordinated testimonies for House hearings and built firm relationships with members in Congress and their staff. They strategized, offered legislative updates and served as the industry’s voice on Capitol Hill. But those efforts would not have succeeded without strong, unified efforts from the across the industry, augmenting their efforts in legislators’ offices.
• State associations, consumer groups and grassroots coalitions have been the building blocks for this effort. Without the work of many, nothing is accomplished. State and regional leaders in the home care industry have worked tirelessly since day one encouraging and motivating providers to make calls, send emails, host members of Congress for site visits — and contact the consumer media. They built support for industry efforts through tough times. Their courage to promote unity during a time of stress has kept the industry moving forward. The many different provider groups, patients and consumer organizations, buying groups, manufacturers and other networks contributed to an extraordinary effort.
• Media relations to establish the facts and create awareness in Washington, in the national press and in local media, have had a great impact.

As competitive bidding gained traction in Congress, the topic also gained momentum in the media.

AAHomecare launched aggressive outreach efforts with success, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services responded in turn, launching a full-throated defense of the bidding program in the media and attacking the home care community’s efforts to reform and delay the program.

At the favorable conclusion of our legislative efforts, this campaign should serve as a case study of how the industry must work together to take advantage of all expertise for the many fights ahead, which are numerous and significant.

Continued pressure on reimbursements is inevitable. Fraud and abuse will continue to tarnish the good work of the industry. Issues like surety bonds will continue their cyclical fashion and recur at inopportune times for the industry. But overall, we’ll be better served because the bidding issue has had a unifying effect within the home care field.

These efforts will be essential down the road — perhaps immediately. If you are not already a part of one of the three core engines described here, please consider getting more involved in the industry’s efforts.

As Ben Franklin said, “If we do not hang together, surely we will all hang separately!”

Tyler J. Wilson is president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, headquartered in Arlington, Va. He may be reached at [email protected]. For more information on critical home care issues, visit the association’s Web site at www.aahomecare.org.