More than 40 percent of the House of Representative signed their names to a Congressional sign-on letter urging HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma to remove non-invasive ventilators from Round 2021 of competitive bidding.
A total of 180 lawmakers signed their names to the House letter, which can be read in full at bit.ly/2VUKOu3. A complete list of signers listed in order of state can be found here at bit.ly/2X3UNxz.
“Congress is sending a clear message that ventilators don’t belong in the bidding program, said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare. “We believe that such a large number of legislators from both parties coming together on an issue in just a few weeks’ time should give HHS and CMS cause to reconsider plans to add non-invasive ventilators to the bidding program.”
“Patients and caregivers who depend on ventilators should be heartened by this strong bipartisan effort on their behalf and especially appreciative of the leadership of
Ryan thanked Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) for launching the letter and their efforts to recruit. He also thanked the various patient advocacy organizations and clinician groups that joined the HME community in support of the letter and the issue, especially the ALS Foundation and the ITEM Coalition.
“Their voices helped amplify the outreach efforts by AAHomecare members and other HME stakeholders to their Representatives, leading to an overwhelming show of Congressional support for keeping ventilators out of the bidding program,” he said.
A Senate companion letter was launched into the upper chamber and providers have until June 26 to get their Senators to sign their names to that version.