Reimbursement relief: Signatures needed for sign-on letter
By HME News Staff
Updated 3:14 PM CDT, Wed October 16, 2024
WASHINGTON – Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa have released a sign-on letter in support of re-establishing the 75/25 Medicare blended reimbursement rate for DME in non-rural, non-competitive bid areas for 2025, AAHomecare has reported.
The association is asking stakeholders to reach out to their representative in the House of Representatives to ask them to join the sign-on letter. Stakeholders should direct Republican reps to contact Miller-Meeks' office and Democratic reps to contact Tonko’s office.
In discussing the need for relief with representatives, AAHomecare says stakeholders can refer to the following links showing the disconnect between Medicare rates and the rising costs suppliers face:
The letter, which will be sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, points out that CMS has taken action in the past to ensure access to DME, including applying the 50/50 blended rate for HME in rural areas on a permanent basis.
“DME suppliers and the patients they serve have faced higher delivery and labor costs due to inflation,” the letter states. “We are concerned that CMS, after pausing the competitive bidding program, has not updated payment rates and is still using 2016 pricing methodologies that do not account for today’s increased costs. This is compounded by the expiration of the 75/25 blended rate, which had provided stability by recognizing outdated bid pricing. The 75/25 blended rate policy ensured continued access to DME and related homecare services which are now threatened for millions of Americans. We understand that companies have had to lay off employees and consolidate offices, leaving patients with reduced access and longer wait times for vital care which is often delivered in the home.”
Industry-backed legislation, H.R. 5555 and S. 1294,would extend for an additional year blended rates that were first put into effect in March 2020 and subsequently extended through 2023 via an omnibus bill that passed through Congress in late December 2022.
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