ATLANTA — H.R. 3790 has climbed to 140 co-sponsors, but the industry is pushing for more with several events on tap to boost support for the bill, which would repeal national competitive bidding.
Introduced in October by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., H.R. 3790 has since had a steady stream of co-signers, but proponents say 218 is the number needed to put the bill on the action map in Congress.
• On Thursday, the Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America and the California Association of Medical Product Suppliers will host a rally in Buena Park, Calif., in hopes of involving more of the state’s representatives. So far, only four have signed on to the Meek bill.
Southern California is home not only to the Round 1 Riverside MSA but also to 25 of California's 53 congressmen. "That is equal to the total number of U.S. representatives in Florida, greater than those in Ohio and Pennsylvania and nearly double those in North Carolina," AMEPA officials pointed out. "Their support of the bill is vital to its passage."
The rally will be held between 10 a.m. and noon at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center at 7000 Beach Blvd. For information, contact Sean Schwinghammer at sean@amepa.us.
• The National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers is launching a "Save our Jobs—Protect our Patients" Washington call-in from Feb. 12 to 22. As Congress heads into its President’s Day recess, NAIMES said the time is right for providers to ask for their representative’s support of H.R. 3790.
The initiative is the third of similar events in the effort to garner co-sponsors, following VGM’s "Shut Down the Switchboard" December call-in and AAHomecare’s "Meek Week" in January.
NAIMES will finalize details of the "SOS" call-in this week, and will publish results after the event is over.
"Something has got to be done," said NAIMES President Wayne Stanfield. "If competitive bidding goes forward, the industry is going to lose a huge section of suppliers that are not going to come back. Even if competitive bidding fails and goes away or there is a need for more suppliers, those people are going to be gone …
"If competitive bidding goes into Round 2, right now the few thousand that will go out of business related to the first nine MSAs will expand to many, many more as we get to 100," Stanfield warned.
• The American Association for Homecare will hold its Washington Legislative Conference March 1-3, including an industry lobby day on Capitol Hill with a concerted effort to put H.R. 3790 over the top.
"With respect to the Meek bill, we really have to keep working," said Tyler Wilson, association president and CEO. "We need to double the number of co-sponsors in the House, and by getting that critical mass that will then lead to some impetus in the Senate … If we have any hope to stop competitive bidding it’s going to have to happen though a legislative edict coming from Congress; CMS is not going to do it, and the Meek vehicle is the best way to do that now."
"This is the year, if we’re going to get something done legislatively," confirmed Invacare’s Cara Bachenheimer, speaking at a Jan. 26 meeting of the Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Services. The industry’s top issue, she said, "is competitive bidding, competitive bidding, competitive bidding."
While some legislators seem fixated on HME fraud, she continued, "the whole focus that competitive bidding equals addressing fraud and abuse is not an equation that makes any sense." She called on providers to get to their federal lawmakers and make the case in person.
"You need to come explain to your legislators and their staff firsthand why these things aren’t true," urged Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare.
Of the Meek bill’s initial co-sponsors, she said, there was at least one from every bidding area in Round 1, "which shows you the power of constituents educating their legislators." With House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, recently signed on to the bill, Bachenheimer said, "that should clear a green light" for other Republicans to add their names to the proposed legislation.
Added GAMES member Robert Steedley, president of Barnes Healthcare Services in Valdosta, Ga., "If we are unsuccessful with H.R. 3790 and competitive bidding, you’re going to see significantly less providers … and it is going to result in significantly less service to those customers."