Stakeholders ‘full-steam ahead’ on reimbursement relief 

WASHINGTON – The HME industry has collected 33 signatures for a congressional letter, engaged a PR firm and welcomed a champion into a new high-profile role in the Senate – all part of efforts to get reimbursement relief passed before the end of the year. 

The letter, led by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., was sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, urging CMS to re-establish the 75/25 reimbursement rates in non-competitive bidding, non-rural areas. 

“It's a great number because we were basically asking for signatures a week before the election,” said Jay Witter, senior vice president of public policy for AAHomecare. “It gave our folks the chance to re-engage with the House and now we're into the second phase where we're just talking to everybody.” 

The industry’s chief talking point in Congress: Building support for its priority legislation, H.R. 5555 and S. 1294, which would extend the blended rates for an additional year. 

To amplify its message, AAHomecare has engaged the services of PR firm Keybridge Communications to create a strategic campaign pushing the industry’s message in key parts of the country like New York, New Jersey and Louisiana, says Tom Ryan, president & CEO. 

“We’re talking about the access concerns and reaching out with our access study that we did, and pitching areas where there's (members) of the key committees of jurisdiction,” he said. “It’s full-steam ahead.” 

Stakeholders are eyeing several potential vehicles, including a continuing resolution, which expires Dec. 20, and health care extenders, including telehealth flexibilities, which expire Dec. 31. With Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who introduced S. 1294 with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the new Senate Majority Leader, stakeholders like the chances of health care-related bills moving in the next several weeks. 

“We know work has to be done for some key issues,” Ryan said. “I know that I think Sen. Thune, R-S.D., is a supporter of telehealth so that may be bode well for a larger package.” 

With HME providers “feeling the pinch,” says Mike “Ike” Isaacson, senior vice president of government and regulatory relations for VGM & Associates, it’s well past time to get something done. The expiration of the blended rates has meant decreases of 32% for oxygen and 37% for manual wheelchairs, for example. 

“A lot of difficult decisions are going to have to be made moving forward, so we're really just trying to impress upon all of the members of Congress that enough is enough,” he said. “We give very good lip service to wanting to keep people in their homes, now let's let have our policy reflect that.”