Industry Holds Town Hall Meetings on Health Reform

ATLANTA — After a call from the Obama administration for
public input on health care reform (see Obama Sets the Stage for
Health Care Reform, HomeCare Monday, Dec. 15), several
industry organizations scheduled community meetings to raise HME’s
issues.

Nielsen Business Media, producer of Medtrade and
Medtrade
Spring, will host a community discussion today at 1 p.m. at its
headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. HME providers and manufacturers are
invited to attend the meeting, which will address topics such as
the impact of competitive bidding and the effect of reimbursement
cuts on patient care.

The National
Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers also
will host a town hall meeting today at 1 p.m. in South Boston, Va.,
to discuss health care reform and “specifically focus on home care
and DME as a key component of solving the high cost of health
care,” the group said.

Member services organization VGM Group had set a town hall meeting last
week, but postponed the Friday morning event after more than 8.5
inches of snow fell in its hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. The group
said it will likely reschedule the meeting.

According to President-elect Obama’s transition Web site
(www.change.gov), health care will be a “top priority,”
and he’s asking for Americans’ help in “reforming the system to
provide quality, affordable health care” by holding
community discussions.

Their hosts said results of the meetings would be sent to Sen.
Tom Daschle, newly appointed HHS head, as recommendations for the
health care reform debate that Congress is expected to take up at
some point next year. Exactly when, however, now seems up for
grabs.

While Obama has made it clear he wants to tackle health reform
in his first 100 days in office, last week House Ways and Means
Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney “Pete” Stark, D-Calif., said
work on the economy and other priorities could delay reform
legislation until early 2010.

“I don’t think we’ll do it in the first 100 days,” Stark
told reporters Wednesday. Quoted in popular
Washington newspaper The Hill, he also said several
smaller health care issues, including reauthorization of the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program, delaying a Medicare
reimbursement cut for physicians and health information technology
legislation — issues he labeled “deferred maintenance”
— could push back a larger reform measure.

In addition, Stark noted the need to build toward health reform
in an orderly process, one in which stakeholder groups including
providers, insurers and drugmakers have time to state their cases.
“I think you have to give everybody a chance to have a hearing,”
Stark said.

For information about today’s community meeting in Atlanta,
contact Medtrade at 770/291-5457 or visit Medtrade’s Web
site.

For information about today’s community meeting in South Boston,
Va., contact NAIMES at 434/572-9457 or visit www.dmehelp.org.