WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 26, 2021)—On August 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) distributed an alert on Philips respiratory products under recall. In their notice, CMS tells patients with recalled devices:
AAHomecare
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 19, 2021)—Stakeholders representing health care providers and end users with medical needs developed a white paper to educate payers and state Medicaid programs on the types of products and services needed to successfully manage an individual’s bowel and bladder needs in a home-based setting to achieve the Triple Aim of improving patient experience and health outcomes while reducing overall cost.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 6, 2021)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule on July 30, 2021, permanently exempted manual complex rehab technology (CRT) wheelchair accessories from pricing based on competitive bidding results for standard wheelchair accessories.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 6, 2021)—AAHomecare has retained The Nickles Group (TNG), a well-established D.C. lobbying firm, to bolster the association’s capability to engage Capitol Hill and federal agencies overseeing health care policy.
HME providers, industry working out impacts of Philips device recall
PHOENIX, Arizona (July 14, 2021)—Home medical equipment providers may need to wait as long as a year before the situation is back to normal on Philips Respironics CPAP devices, which have been put on hold due to a nationwide recall, according to the American Association for Homecare.
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 8, 2021)—North Carolina home medical equipment (HME) suppliers closed a loophole that could have weakened Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) rate floor policy and in addition were able to secure an extra two years of protections through recent action in the North Carolina Legislature.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 15, 2021)—AAHomecare’s has membership approved a new leadership slate, re-electing Bill Guidetti (executive vice president, East Zone, Apria Healthcare—Red Bank, New Jersey) as chairman of the board and also approving two home medical equipment industry leaders to officer roles:
Josh Marx, managing director and vice president, Medical Service Company
AAHomecare vice chair
Cleveland, Ohio
ARLINGTON, Va. (June 1, 2021)—Home medical equipment (HME) suppliers in rural and other non-bid areas received significant support in the April 2020 Cares Act through measures that extended the 50/50 blended rate for rural suppliers through the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), and for the first time provided a 75/25 rate (a blend using 75% current adjusted rates and 25% unadjusted rates) for suppliers in other non-bid areas for the duration of the PHE.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 25, 2021)—The Senate has confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The vote was 55 to 44 in favor of her confirmation. Brooks-LaSure will be the first Black woman to hold the position.
Today, leaders in the homecare industry shared their reactions to the news.
BATON ROUGE, La. (May 21, 2021)—In a victory for home ventilator providers, the Louisiana House of Representative passed HB 594 on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. The legislation prevents insurers, MCOs and other payers from setting reimbursement caps for ventilators.
WASHINGTON, D.C (May 14, 2021)—Following the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision to not implement bids set by Round 2021 for most product categories, home medical equipment (HME) suppliers remain subject to Medicare rates that are largely based on bids submitted in 2015.
ARLINGTON, Va. (May 11, 2021)—AAHomecare is currently accepting nominations for one open position on the board of directors. To be nominated, you must be an employee or owner of an AAHomecare member company in good standing.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 7, 2021)—Even as vaccination rates grow and new cases of COVID-19 are slowing nationwide, home medical equipment (HME) suppliers and manufacturers remain in the grip of another side effect of the pandemic: higher product costs and increased operational expenses.
An update on Medicaid priorities from AAHomecare
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 22, 2021)—AAHomecare is kicking off a sustained earned media campaign to build awareness of the essential, high-value care that the home medical equipment (HME) industry delivers. The campaign is led by Keybridge Communications, who will engage influential health care journalists as well as develop and place op-eds to highlight the industry’s important role in the health care continuum and make the case for HME policy priorities.
Updated April 14, 3:00 p.m. CST
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 14, 2021)—The House of Representatives passed an amended version of H.R. 1868 on April 12, extending the pause on the 2% Medicare sequester cuts through the remainder of 2021.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 31, 2021)—Last week, the Senate passed an amended version of H.R. 1868, extending the pause on 2% Medicare sequester cuts though the end of 2021. Without Congressional action, those cuts would go back into effect on April 1.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 25, 2021)—As previously reported, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a new DMEPOS fee schedule for oxygen that reflects a long-sought fix for outdated budget neutrality provisions that was finally secured in December 2020 COVID-19 relief legislation. The updated rates, which go into effect on Apr.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 10, 2021)—With the moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequester cuts currently set to expire on March 31, the American Association for Homecare and health care sector coalition partners have redoubled efforts to engage legislators in support of extending the pause on these cuts.
As a result of this outreach, an updated bill that would extend the moratorium throughout the end of 2021 may be introduced as early as this week.
WASHINGTON, DC (February 26, 2021)—The Council for Quality Respiratory Care—a coalition of the nation's leading home respiratory therapy providers and manufacturing companies—partnered with the American Association for Homecare and The VGM Group in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Acting Administrator Elizabeth Richter urging the agency to finalize the
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 26, 2021)—ResMed’s Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Market Access, Larissa D’Andrea, has accepted the open position on the Executive Committee for AAHomecare. The open position became available following another merger within the industry, and the association reached out to the talented and committed advocate to fill the position. D’Andrea most recently sat on the board of directors for the association.