ATLANTA — Call it being fed up, or maybe fired up. With increasing vigor, the home medical equipment industry is blasting back at misleading media and government reports — and that is making a difference, industry leaders say.
"Our determination to set the record straight in the media has given us big opportunities to air our side of the story on several occasions," said Michael Reinemer, vice president, communications and policy, for the American Association for Homecare. "For instance, our blistering response to a couple of very misleading digs by a former Medicare administrator on C-SPAN earned us a half-hour on the air to set the record straight … Last month, we were quoted on the front page of USA Today on the HME sector's support for anti-fraud measures."
It's a major turnaround from the days not so long ago when the HME sector did little to ward off the assaults of government agencies and media that resulted in a public perception of an industry where fraud ran rampant and companies liberally milked the Medicare program dry.
Now, threatened by the prospect of DMEPOS competitive bidding and other crippling CMS initiatives, HME stakeholders are rising up to fight for their businesses and their beneficiaries' quality of care.
"Some of the negative stories that have come out were clearly backlash from some Washington insiders who reacted to our aggressive stance opposing the bidding program," Reinemer said. "Other misleading stories have been planted by the HHS Office of Inspector General … In their never-ending effort to shine up their own image and expand their budget, OIG has wrongly and unfairly tarnished ours."
It isn't just AAHomecare that is watchdogging the information emanating from the various sources, however. Individual stakeholders have taken up the cause as have independent groups such as the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a Washington watchdog organization that has lobbied against competitive bidding — even assisting in a lawsuit in hopes of gaining greater transparency in the project from CMS.
Last month 166 renowned economists joined in, punching holes in CMS' competitive bidding plan in a Sept. 26 letter to Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. The industry got another boost via a Sept. 30 "Freakonomics" post in the The New York Times about the economists' letter titled "Fix Medicare's Bizarre Auction Program."
After reading their letter to Stark, Barb Stockert of Sanford HealthCare Accessories in Jamestown, N.D., wrote to Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., alerting him to the economists' opinions and, based on their concerns, Stark's questions to CMS about the program. Stockert also noted the need for a Senate companion to H.R. 3790, which, supported by 257 members of the House, would eliminate competitive bidding.
"Our industry is in real need of a Senate companion bill," Stockert wrote. "The last thing anyone needs right now is another failed government program, so I think it is imperative that serious consideration on this program has to be done. If this program is allowed to begin, it is going to seriously limit access for Medicare beneficiaries, and be the direct cause of job loss and business closings."
In Redding, Calif., Tony Lewis and Steve Gavras, owners of New West Medical, hosted Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., on a company tour. The goal: to get Herger to sign on to H.R. 3790. But he declined to support the bill.
In an Oct. 6 interview, Gavras told the Redding Record Searchlight that Herger's support of competitive bidding came at the expense of patients and risked a "much larger expense" in the future. "He is doing what he probably has accused the Democrats of doing; pushing the expense down the road … I hope somebody will look at the increase in hospital costs over the next 20 years," Gavras told the newspaper.
While Herger's response wasn't the desired one, his visit "resulted in good coverage in the local newspaper and television station," Reinemer said.
On Sept. 29, The Sun (San Bernardino) printed a rebuttal from Esta Willman, owner of Medi-Source Equipment and Supply in Yucca Valley, Calif., responding to an editorial praising the CMS program. She noted the newspaper's piece contained factual errors and did not examine the consequences for Medicare beneficiaries.
"Your opinion piece … suggests that seniors will benefit from lower prices," Willman wrote. "But most Medicare beneficiaries have insurance policies that cover co-payments, so the insurance companies are the ones who will be spending less money, not the seniors."
Willman pointed out that the editorial confused "the Medicare bidding system, which is a price-setting mechanism, with the issue of provider accreditation, which is a long overdue anti-fraud measure. Thankfully, the accreditation requirement is already in effect. The bidding system has nothing to do with stopping fraud."
The CMS project places Medicare beneficiaries in jeopardy, said Willman. "This program is actually designed to eliminate about 90 percent of the equipment providers in a given market area, which reduces competition based on quality and service. As a result, it will be harder to ensure access to home care," she wrote.
Randy Wolfe, president of Lambert's Health Care, Knoxville, Tenn., guides AAHomecare's grassroots Stand Up for Homecare campaign. He noted its supporters have gotten smarter about public relations efforts with "more advance planning, quicker responses and more pointed positions that refute or clarify incorrect or negative generalizations that may come though the press from time to time."
Being more aggressive in telling the industry's story, he said, shifts the emphasis of public discussion "to the homes of families and the patients we care for across the country."
Said Reinemer, "The net result of these public awareness efforts and responses is that millions of Americans are hearing the truth about the value of home care and about our perspective on some of the policy challenges we face in Washington. Also, public officials and the media are less likely to make misleading statements about HME — because they know we are watching, and we will call them on it."
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