A good news week

I blogged last week about how the industry saw some good progress, but no resolutions, on its top issues of competitive bidding and audits in 2014.

Well, it's off to a good start in 2015.

In what's turning out to be a good news week, AAHomecare has announced that lawmakers in not only the House of Representatives but also the Senate will re-introduce bills next week to reform the competitive bidding program.

The association has also announced that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) will add a fifth bid study to its docket—this one on the impact of the program on beneficiary access to DME.

And it's only Jan. 9!

Of course, when it comes to competitive bidding, the industry doesn't have all year to play with. Because the bid window for the Round 2 re-compete closes in late March, stakeholders would like to see some movement on the bills before then.

That's a tall order, but again, it's progress.

If good things come in threes, we should have an audit bill or some other progress on that front very soon.

At the end of the day, however, regardless of what happens with competitive bidding or audits, you have to be thinking about how YOU can drive your business forward, as Mike Sperduti explains in a guest commentary that will appear in our February issue.

“Your thinking and psychology will play the biggest part in determining your success or failure this year. If you think external factors like competitive bidding, healthcare legislation or other people are responsible for what happens in your life, then you are handing over that power to them. If they are responsible, then you can't make it right, only the situation/other person can. The first step to having the best year of your life is to take absolute responsibility for everything—what you have, what is going on and who can fix it.”