Representatives Seek to Remove Ventilators from Competitive Bidding Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 21, 2019)—Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) are leading a Congressional sign-on letter asking CMS and HHS to reverse course on their recent decision to add non-invasive vents to the competitive bidding program for Round 2021.

Their letter to CMS reads in part:

“Congress has never specifically directed the Secretary to competitively bid ventilators, and Medicare has never attempted to bid any items within its entire DME category of devices requiring frequent and substantial servicing. CMS has never proposed including ventilators in the program through rulemaking and we would encourage you to solicit such input on the record before doing so. CMS recently announced plans to include noninvasive ventilators in Medicare’s competitive bidding program in a press release. We urge you to reconsider these plans.”

The full letter can be viewed here.

This letter is expected to be released on Capitol Hill this week. HME leaders attending the AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference will have the opportunity to ask their representatives in the House to add their names to the letter. HME providers not attending the conference can support their efforts by calling or emailing their representatives and asking that they join the Congressional sign-on letter on keeping ventilators out of the Medicare competitive bidding program for DME that Reps. Griffith and Welch will be circulating.

Enlisting Congressional support for removing non-invasive vents from competitive bidding is critically important to industry efforts to get CMS to reconsider their decision, so please take action.

You can also note that a major patient group representing ventilator users, the ALS Association, opposes including non-invasive ventilators in the bidding program.

Visit the AAHomecare Action Center to send a letter to your Representative asking them to sign on.