Push to Put H.R. 3790 Over the Top

ATLANTA — H.R. 3790 has climbed to 140 co-sponsors, but
the industry is pushing for more with several events on tap to
boost support for the bill, which would repeal national competitive
bidding.

Introduced in October by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., H.R. 3790
has since had a steady stream of co-signers, but proponents say 218
is the number needed to put the bill on the action map in
Congress.

• On Thursday, the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers
of America and the California Association of Medical Product
Suppliers will host a rally in Buena Park, Calif., in hopes of
involving more of the state’s representatives. So far, only
four have signed on to the Meek bill.

Southern California is home not only to the Round 1 Riverside
MSA but also to 25 of California’s 53 congressmen. “That is equal
to the total number of U.S. representatives in Florida, greater
than those in Ohio and Pennsylvania and nearly double those in
North Carolina,” AMEPA officials pointed out. “Their support of the
bill is vital to its passage.”

The rally will be held between 10 a.m. and noon at the Holiday
Inn and Conference Center at 7000 Beach Blvd. For information,
contact Sean Schwinghammer at [email protected].

• The National Association of Independent Medical
Equipment Suppliers is launching a “Save our Jobs—Protect our
Patients” Washington call-in from Feb. 12 to 22. As Congress heads
into its President’s Day recess, NAIMES said the time is
right for providers to ask for their representative’s support
of H.R. 3790.

The initiative is the third of similar events in the effort to
garner co-sponsors, following VGM’s “Shut Down the
Switchboard” December call-in and AAHomecare’s “Meek Week” in
January.

NAIMES will finalize details of the “SOS” call-in this week, and
will publish results after the event is over.

“Something has got to be done,” said NAIMES President Wayne
Stanfield. “If competitive bidding goes forward, the industry is
going to lose a huge section of suppliers that are not going to
come back. Even if competitive bidding fails and goes away or there
is a need for more suppliers, those people are going to be gone
…

“If competitive bidding goes into Round 2, right now the few
thousand that will go out of business related to the first nine
MSAs will expand to many, many more as we get to 100,” Stanfield
warned.

• The American Association for Homecare will hold its
Washington Legislative Conference March 1-3, including an industry
lobby day on Capitol Hill with a concerted effort to put H.R. 3790
over the top.

“With respect to the Meek bill, we really have to keep working,”
said Tyler Wilson, association president and CEO. “We need to
double the number of co-sponsors in the House, and by getting that
critical mass that will then lead to some impetus in the Senate
… If we have any hope to stop competitive bidding it’s
going to have to happen though a legislative edict coming from
Congress; CMS is not going to do it, and the Meek vehicle is the
best way to do that now.”

“This is the year, if we’re going to get something done
legislatively,” confirmed Invacare’s Cara Bachenheimer,
speaking at a Jan. 26 meeting of the Georgia Association of Medical
Equipment Services. The industry’s top issue, she said, “is
competitive bidding, competitive bidding, competitive bidding.”

While some legislators seem fixated on HME fraud, she continued,
“the whole focus that competitive bidding equals addressing fraud
and abuse is not an equation that makes any sense.” She called on
providers to get to their federal lawmakers and make the case in
person.

“You need to come explain to your legislators and their staff
firsthand why these things aren’t true,” urged Bachenheimer,
senior vice president of government relations for Elyria,
Ohio-based Invacare.

Of the Meek bill’s initial co-sponsors, she said, there
was at least one from every bidding area in Round 1, “which shows
you the power of constituents educating their legislators.” With
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, recently signed on to
the bill, Bachenheimer said, “that should clear a green light” for
other Republicans to add their names to the proposed
legislation.

Added GAMES member Robert Steedley, president of Barnes
Healthcare Services in Valdosta, Ga., “If we are unsuccessful with
H.R. 3790 and competitive bidding, you’re going to see
significantly less providers … and it is going to result in
significantly less service to those customers.”