As Congress quickly approaches the deadline to extend the debt ceiling, the American Association for Homecare called on HME providers to contact their Senators and Representatives in support of adding Medicare reimbursement relief for DME to any year-end budget legislation.
AAHomecare CEO Tom Ryan and Jay Witter, senior vice president of Public Policy for the association, met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to ask that crucial reimbursement provisions are added to end-of-the-year spending legislation.
They reminded providers to join the effort in ensuring two key reimbursement provisions are added to an omnibus spending package. The two provisions are:
- Including language from H.R. 6641, which was introduced into the House by Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and provides a 90/10 blended Medicare reimbursement rate for DME for suppliers in former competitive bidding areas (CBAs).
- Extending the CARES Act’s 75/25 blended rate for Medicare reimbursement for DME suppliers in non-competitive bid areas beyond the end of the current COVID-19 PHE.
AAHomecare also advised providers to encourage their colleagues and other HME stakeholders to send a pre-drafted email to lawmakers using its Voter Voice grassroots advocacy site at www.votervoice.net.