PHILADELPHIA (July 28, 2020)—The Pennsylvania Department of Commerce and Economic Development (DCED) has informed the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers (PAMS) that home medical equipment (HME) providers will now be eligible to receive COVID-19 hazard pay as part of the grant program for frontline workers.
Laura Williard
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 8, 2020)—North Carolina home medical equipment stakeholders successfully concluded a year-long effort to protect reimbursement rates for Medicaid beneficiaries served through managed care organizations (MCOs) when Gov. Roy Cooper signed comprehensive Medicaid bill SB 808.
AAHomecare advocates for HME industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 5, 2019)—The American Association for Homecare’s (AAHomecare) newest council convened for the first time in Arlington, Virginia, last week and got off to a flying start. The initial meeting for the Payer Relations Council focused on establishing strategic objectives for 2020 and beginning to build the road map for the HME industry to succeed outside of the Medicare space.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2019)—Changes to the TRICARE regions to consolidate to two plans from the previous three plans have been fraught with provider network and claims processing issues. While AAHomecare has been contacted regarding these issues with both regions, the bulk of the issues have been with the TRICARE East contractor, Humana Military.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 22, 2019)—Over the past two and a half years, AAHomecare’s payer relations efforts have helped stop or limit proposed Medicaid reimbursement cuts in dozens of states, limited the spread of sole-source and narrow-network contract arrangements, and successfully lobbied TRICARE to provide retroactive relief for HME reimbursements based on the 2016 CURES bill.
TOPEKA, Kan. (January 24, 2019)—The Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment has proposed cutting rates for most HME items to just 65 percent of the Medicare non-rural fee schedule, effective retroactively to Jan. 1, 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 10, 2019)—On Dec. 27, 2017, CMS released guidance related to 2016 CURES bill provisions that mandated that federal Medicaid reimbursement to states for HME could not exceed what Medicare would have allowed for these items, in aggregate, beginning on Jan. 1, 2018.
Catching up with AAHomecare's efforts to clarify Medicaid Cures claims
Cures Act-mandated cuts would have results in a $10 million shortfall in the state.
Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 28, 2018)—When CMS released guidance for states to comply with CURES-mandated Medicaid reimbursement cuts in late December, Georgia Deparment of Community Health (DCH) officials signaled their intention to go with what CMS called the simplest option: to base Medicaid rates on the Medicare fee schedule.
Advocacy on Capitol Hill and beyond
Rates apply for July 1 through December 31, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 7, 2017)—TRICARE is issuing its first official acknowledgements that they will reprocess claims from July 1 through December 31, 2016 to reflect adjustments to the fee schedule mandated by last December’s CURES bill.
Thoughts were shared at Medtrade Spring 2017
LAS VEGAS (March 1, 2017)—At Tuesday morning’s Washington Update, AAHomecare senior staff recounted important achievements from the last six months and discussed the prospects for additional gains for the HME industry in 2017. AAHomecare president and CEO Tom Ryan led off by describing 2017 as a year of opportunity for HME on the public policy front, thanks in part to new leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 18, 2016)—Laura Williard, AAHomecare’s senior director of payer relations, met with representatives of Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the AIM Sleep Management program to establish a relationship and open a dialogue to represent HME provider interests.