On the Supply Side

The American Association for Homecare has heard the voices of medical supplies members who are speaking up about the needs that are unique to that sector. As a result, AAHomecare has created a new Medical Supplies Council to set priorities and shape home care policy in this area.

The home medical supplies sector is an expanding, $5 billion segment of the home care industry. Ray Noeker, CEO of Byram Healthcare and chairman of the new council, points out that many of the challenges confronting the medical supplies sector are distinct and require a dedicated forum to address them.

“Bringing the leaders of this segment together through a supply council under the umbrella of AAHomecare is clearly the right way to go,” says Noeker. “It’s rewarding to know the association recognizes the materiality and uniqueness of this segment, and that our priorities will be better understood in the future.”

The Medical Supplies Council will include providers of diabetic, incontinence, ostomy, urological and wound care supplies and will define the critical issues and required actions to handle their concerns. It will focus its efforts on the patient by working to ensure efficient and cost-effective access to products and services and fair Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for all parties.

Many issues important to the medical supplies sector were aired in September during CMS’ Program Advisory and Oversight Committee meetings, which focused on quality standards related to the competitive bidding provisions (aka restrictive contracting) in the Medicare Modernization Act.

For instance, providers of diabetic testing supplies informed the PAOC that patient compliance, availability of familiar models, patient access and other critical elements of diabetic home care are likely to be hurt by the planned rollout of competitive bidding, which will result in complications in patient care and higher costs for Medicare.

Imagine, with about 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with diabetes, how competitive bidding could affect health care spending in the United States. Home care provides appropriate diabetic patient care and compliance — which reduces complications that otherwise result in hospital admissions. If patients are stabilized at home, they maintain a quality of life, and our health care system avoids unnecessary costs. It’s important to remember that the January 2005 cuts in diabetic supplies that were required by MMA and tied to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan have already dramatically reduced reimbursement levels.

Also at the PAOC meeting, George Taler, past president of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians, outlined what is at stake if implementation of competitive bidding reduces the range and quality of products and services provided by HMEs: increased use of emergency rooms and avoidable hospitalizations, greater nursing home placements, social disruption and misdirected resources.

“We pay a high price if we don’t get it right,” Taler told the PAOC. “If home care fails, the only other option in our society is the nursing home.”

The Medical Supplies Council joins a long list of member-driven councils and committees at AAHomecare that tackle a broad range of pressing issues, from competitive bidding and inhalation drug dispensing fees to quality standards, home health pay-for-performance models and numerous other subjects that often cut across all segments. For instance, AAHomecare’s Regulatory Committee is working on issues with CMS’ competitive bidding quality standards in collaboration with our new council as well as the Home Medical Equipment/Respiratory Therapy Council, the Respiratory Access Alliance and the Rehab and Assistive Technology Council.

Fortunately for all of us, these councils and committees include passionate and dedicated home care advocates who have a bias toward getting results. They are essential avenues of innovation, market intelligence and advocacy in the fight to protect both the patients and providers of home care products and services.

Kay Cox is president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, Alexandria, Va. For more information about AAHomecare, visit www.aahomecare.org, or call 703/836-6263.