Rescission Letters Fly with Two Days to Go on IFR

WASHINGTON–With only two days to go, industry supporters
continue the fight for rescission of the interim final rule on
competitive bidding. Unless the Obama administration issues an
executive order or CMS takes action to pull or delay the rule, it
will be implemented April 18.

A letter signed by 83 House members urging CMS to rescind the rule
was sent yesterday to Health and Human Services Acting Secretary
Charles Johnson, CMS Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera and
Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health
Reform. Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, authored the letter, which asks
CMS to “rescind the rule so that all affected parties will
have the opportunity to comment on it as a proposed
regulation.”

The Sutton letter said many of the changes that were recommended
when Congress delayed the DMEPOS bidding program last July have not
been incorporated in the IFR. There are also concerns about
“the immediate elimination of thousands of eligible providers
throughout the country” under competitive bidding, the letter
notes. (See “Sutton
Letter Urges Rescission of Bidding IFR.”)

In a Tuesday letter addressed to DeParle, Populist Caucus Chairman
Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, requested that the White House health reform
chief rescind the rule. (The caucus rallies members of congress on
middle-class economic issues such as health care, taxes and
jobs.)

“I am deeply concerned that CMS has rushed implementation of
this rule counter to Congress’ intent when it delayed the
competitive bidding program as part of [the Medicare Improvements
for Patients and Providers Act],” Braley wrote.
“Congress delayed the bid program [because] it believed
CMS’ haste could lead to disastrous results for the four
million beneficiaries impacted under Round One.

“In particular, we saw many examples of the serious problems
the bid program caused, particularly its restriction of
beneficiaries’ access to quality local providers and the
initiation of home care business closures or bankruptcies across
the country,” Braley said.

On Monday, the American Association for Homecare and 27 state
associations sent a letter with the same request to rescind the
rule to HHS, CMS and the Obama administration.

“This bidding program allows the government to selectively
contract with only a small fraction of current home care providers,
forcing out DME companies that provide high-quality equipment or
provide critical patient services … The program will produce
a bureaucratic, anti-competitive price-setting system that would be
similar to a closed-model HMO and would have the effect of
government-mandated consolidation in the home care sector,”
the association letter said.

“This is not the solution to Medicare’s reform–and it
is certainly not the answer for patients and seniors.” (Read
the
full text of the association letter.)

As the IFR clock continues to tick, numerous HME associations are
calling on providers and other supporters to weigh in with their
members of Congress about the IFR.

AAHomecare has posted talking points on the IFR and other
information about competitive bidding at www.aahomecare.org.

For direct connection to members of Congress, call the U.S.
Capitol switchboard at 202/224-3121.