Industry Remains Wary as Obama Stirs Health Reform Pot

WASHINGTON — President Obama is hoping to get health care
reform going once again with a half-day summit at the White House.
Scheduled for Feb. 25, the bipartisan session will be broadcast
live on C-SPAN and will follow a week-long congressional recess
that begins today.

Health reform legislation has been stalled since the election
last month of Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., reduced Democrats’ vote
margin in the Senate from a filibuster-proof 60 to 59. Obama has
said he doesn’t want to scrap the reform bills that have passed the
House and Senate but wants “to look at the Republican ideas that
are out there.”

Reaction in media outlets such as the New York Times,
National Public Radio and Fox News has characterized the summit as
more show than substance, but all agree the political stakes are
high.

The Times called the event “a high-profile gambit that
will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to
break their political impasse.” The exact nature of the
give-and-take is still being decided, but home care advocates hope
to influence the core issues as the debate continues.

Between them, the current House and Senate health reform bills
contain a number of provisions that could have dire effects on HME,
including an excise tax on medical device manufacturers,
elimination of the first-month purchase option for standard power
wheelchairs and acceleration of the DMEPOS competitive bidding
program. Industry-watchers have warned that even if the
provisions don’t show up in a comprehensive bill in the near term,
they could show up in other legislation.

Influencing the national debate is a familiar industry refrain,
and one The MED Group’s Wayne Grau compares to the business duties
of boosting referrals.

“I would equate this to when our members first opened their
businesses,” said Grau, vice president, supplier relations and
government affairs, for the Lubbock, Texas-based group. “At that
point they would go out and meet everyone they could to tell their
story to — physicians, home health agencies, referrals
sources, anybody they could — to help them create awareness
of their company.

“Lobbying is the same thing. Providers need to tell their story
to legislators … because they see how our industry helps
control costs, keeps people healthier and in their homes, and they
have a passion that no lobbyist ever will.”

MED is planning a series of webinars to show apprehensive HME
providers how to advocate for industry issues. (For more, see
MED to Offer
Lobbying Lessons, Feb. 15.)

As spiraling Medicare costs will undoubtedly make headlines in
the weeks to come, provider Tom Ryan says legislators should be
welcoming growth in the HME and home health sectors.

“This is the least costly sector in health care today,” said
Ryan, president and CEO of Homecare Concepts in Farmingdale, NY.
“The cost shift and decrease in overall spending as more
cost-effective, patient-preferred care is delivered in the home
setting is obvious. So why do we keep cutting and gutting this
benefit?

“This silo mentality does not work,” Ryan said. “Home care
works.”