Hill briefing: Associations tag team on access issues
By HME News Staff
Updated Thu February 15, 2018
WASHINGTON - AAHomecare and the American Thoracic Society held a well-attended Capitol Hill briefing on Feb. 14 to detail access problems for patients.
Al Dobson, president of Dobson DaVanzo & Associates and the lead on “Analysis on the Impact of Competitive Bidding on Medicare Beneficiary Access to Durable Medical Equipment,” a study commissioned by AAHomecare, detailed how 77% of case managers report difficulty discharging patients; and 52% of patients report difficulty accessing DME.
Those study findings are echoed by the ATS study, “Patient Perceptions of the Adequacy of Supplemental Oxygen Therapy,” which found that 51% of patients report problems with their oxygen service.
Giving the provider point of view, Mike Calcaterra, Northern Zone vice president for Norco and the Montana State Chair for Big Sky AMES, detailed how 20% of HME providers in Montana and 37% of providers in Idaho have closed their doors since 2013.
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