Providers escape licensing rule
By HME News Staff
Updated Wed April 30, 2008
PHOENIX, Ariz. - A state legislator has dropped plans to require licenses for HME providers-for now.
"It won't go any further this year, but it's not going to go away," said Steve Treinen, director of Banner Home Care in Gilbert, Ariz. "They just have too much on their plates this year."
In HB 2504, Rep. Jennifer Burns, R-District 25, outlined plans to require that all HME providers get licenses by Jan. 1, 2009. She envisioned a system where the state would renew licenses each year, as long as providers met standards like posting their hours of operation.
Burns introduced the bill earlier this year after a consumer advocacy group and disability lawyers complained of "poor service from a couple of providers of power wheelchairs," Treinen said.
"They feel if they have a complaint with a roofer, they can go to the state and get his license pulled, but if they have a complaint with a provider, there's nowhere to go," he said.
At a meeting with Burns in late February, Treinen and other providers argued that state licenses were unnecessary. Already, providers must become accredited by Sept. 30, 2009, to continue doing business with Medicare, they said. HME
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