Industry to House: Pass H.R. 3790

WASHINGTON — In a July 15 letter addressed to House
leadership and copied to all U.S. representatives, the American
Association for Homecare and 57 other HME and patient advocacy
organizations called for passage of H.R.
3790 to end competitive bidding.

“The elimination of the bidding program will prevent the
needless closing of DME facilities, prevent the layoff of employees
and ensure high-quality service and equipment that Medicare
beneficiaries have become accustomed to receiving,” read the letter
signed by Tyler J. Wilson, president of AAHomecare. “Moreover, home
medical equipment providers will be able to maintain their critical
role in reducing the nation’s health care costs by allowing
beneficiaries to stay in their homes with the products and services
on which they depend.”

Introduced in October by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., H.R. 3790
would repeal Medicare’s
DMEPOS bidding program, replacing it instead with a series of
payment reductions for providers. The bill, scored at $9.6 billion
by the Congressional Budget Office, has since garnered bipartisan
support from a majority of House members, now standing at 252
cosponsors. Industry leaders are working to gain a companion bill
in the Senate.

Based on results of the Round 1 rebid, CMS officials estimated
the competitive bidding program would save Medicare $17 billion
over 10 years.

The text of the letter follows in its entirety:

We, the undersigned organizations, strongly support
Representative Kendrick Meek’s legislation, H.R. 3790, which would
end the Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical
equipment (DME) in a budget-neutral manner. We urge Congress to
pass this important legislation immediately. Our national, state
and local organizations believe that this program is fundamentally
flawed and will create significant obstacles to patient care while
threatening the homecare infrastructure for our nation’s seniors
and disabled.

As our nation’s medical system contends with the daunting
challenge of providing coverage to an additional 30 million
Americans while Medicare prepares for more than 70 million baby
boomers to become Medicare eligible, now is not the time to
prohibit 90 percent of homecare providers from serving Medicare
beneficiaries. Such a move will harm patients by reducing access to
homecare services and compromising the quality of care these
beneficiaries receive.

According to physicians, clinicians and hospital case managers,
the bidding program will disrupt the continuum of care by
restricting patients from going to their providers of choice in
order to receive the appropriate items and services that they
require.

The home medical equipment (HME) sector is dedicated to working
with Congress to ensure H.R. 3790 will replace the troubled bidding
program with a series of payment reductions for home medical
equipment providers, ensuring that CBO-projected savings are
met.

This legislation has strong bipartisan support in the House of
Representatives. The elimination of the bidding program will
prevent the needless closing of DME facilities, prevent the layoff
of employees and ensure high-quality service and equipment that
Medicare beneficiaries have become accustomed to receiving.
Moreover, home medical equipment providers will be able to maintain
their critical role in reducing the nation’s health care costs by
allowing beneficiaries to stay in their homes with the products and
services on which they depend.

Once again, we strongly urge you to take immediate action to
stop the flawed competitive bidding program and pass this
legislation which would terminate the program in a manner that
achieves the same projected savings for
Medicare.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue. We
look forward to working with you to protect Medicare beneficiaries’
access to the home medical equipment and services that they
need.

Respectfully,
Tyler J. Wilson
President

Homecare Community Organizations Supporting H.R. 3790:
1. Accessible Home Improvement of America
2. Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America
3. Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association
4. The ALS Association
5. American Association for Homecare
6. American Association of People with Disabilities
7. Arizona Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
8. Association of Indiana Home Medical Equipment Suppliers
9. Big Sky Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers
10. California Association of Medical Equipment Product
Suppliers
11. Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio
12. Colorado Association for Medical Equipment Services
13. Committee to Save Independent HME Suppliers, LLC
14. Florida Alliance of Home Care Services
15. Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers
16. Health Industry Distributors Association
17. Home Care Alliance of Virginia, Inc.
18. Illinois Association for Medical Equipment Services
19. Jersey Association of Medical Equipment Services
20. Kentucky Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
21. Ms.Wheelchair Virginia
22. Maryland National Capital Homecare Association
23. The MED Group
24. The MED Group-Respiratory Network
25. The MED Group-Rehab Network
26. Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
27. Michigan Home Health Association
29. Muscular Dystrophy Association
30. National Association for Home Care & Hospice
31. National Association for the Support of Long Term Care
32. National Association of Independent Medical Equipment
Suppliers
33. National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology
34. National Council on Independent Living
35. National Emphysema/COPD Association
36. National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers
37. National Spinal Cord Injury Association
38. Nationwide Respiratory
39. Nevada Association of Medical Product Suppliers
40. New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association
41. New York Medical Equipment Providers Association
42. North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services
43. Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services
44. Ohio Council for Home Care and Hospice
45. Orthotics Prosthetics Groups of America
46. Pacific Association for Medical Equipment Services
47. Partners in Healthcare of Virginia, LLC
48. Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers
49. South Carolina Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
50. Texas Alliance of Homecare Services
51. U.S. Rehab
52. United Spinal Association
53. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
54. VGM & Associates
55. The VGM Group, Inc.
56. Virginia Association of Durable Medical Equipment
Companies
57. West Virginia Medical Equipment Suppliers Association
58. Wisconsin Association of Medical Equipment Services

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