HME Business

The HME/DME industry is on the verge of achieving an 18- to 24-month delay of CMS's competitive bidding program.

This afternoon, the Senate voted by a 69 to 30 margin to approve a cloture motion to cease debate over H.R. 6331, and because of a rule for the cloture vote, the two-thirds approval vote also meant that the underlying bill was passed by the Senate.

Now the bill goes to the President, who must either veto H.R. 6331 or sign the bill into law. The Medical Equipment Suppliers Association reports that President Bush has vowed to veto the Bill.

"We expect both the House and Senate to override the President’s veto, since the bill obtained more than enough votes in both the House and Senate necessary to override that veto," a statement from MESA reports. "This bill should become law by the end of next week."

H.R. 6331 proposes to delay implementation of national competitive bidding by between 18 and 24 months, with the HME industry paying for the delay in the form of 9.5 percent price cuts to DME and services covered by competitive bidding, except for oxygen and power wheelchairs.

While H.R. 6331 passed the House with a veto-proof 355 yea votes to 59 nay votes, Senate activity around H.R. 6331 has been a nail-biter for the industry.

A 58-to-40 cloture vote prior to July 4 failed to garner enough yes votes in the Senate to end debate and move to a vote before its Independence Day recess. This meant that round one of NCB went into effect on its July 1 implementation date.

This left the industry to wonder whether the Senate would ultimately pass H.R. 6331. An hme-business.com survey indicated that readers were divided over the bill's possible passage in the Senate, with 42 percent of respondents saying that the Senate would pass the delay, while 58 said it wouldn't.

Now, according to the cloture vote's rules, the bill is close to becoming law, either via the President's signature or an override of his veto. (A new hme-business.com poll is asking providers if they think the Senate can override a veto -- vote now.)

After the Senate reconvened July 7, various industry entities such as American Association for Homecare, National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers, MESA and VGM Group mobilized providers to urge their Senators to support the bill.

The importance placed on the vote by the Senate became so heavy that it even brought out Sen. Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) to make his first appearance in the Senate since having brain surgery on June 2 to remove a tumor. Kennedy is still undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

"Congratulations to the DME industry! You, the supplier community, did it," read a statement from NAIMES. "Credit to this success goes directly to the suppliers and the efforts mounted by them, which changed the minds of 10 Republican senators in this final vote."

"The American Association for Homecare thanks all of the providers, manufacturers, state associations, buying groups, and other stakeholders who have worked so hard on this critical legislation," read a statement from AAHomecare.

A statement from MESA reminded providers the war isn't over yet, and urged providers to call "those Senators who voted yes — particularly any who 'crossed the aisle' and changed their vote"  in order to "thank them, and urge them to be ready to override Bush's veto, if he uses it."

For now, the industry is taking a deep sigh of relief after its exhaustive efforts to pressure legislators to back the bill, before watching for the President's decision and the Senate's reaction with bated breath.