While home medical equipment industry stakeholders now know that the next round of Medicare’s competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment (DME) won’t include “legacy” product categories such as oxygen, standard manual wheelchair or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule still included plenty of points of concern, including the inclusion of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) , insulin pumps, ostomy supplies and urological supplies.
Accordingly, the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) is urging stakeholders to keep up their advocacy efforts, including building up more support for a trio of DME-related bills.
Bills focused on ultralightweight wheelchairs, supplemental oxygen, DME funding
The three bills — H.R. 1703, the Choices for Increased Mobility Act; H.R. 2005, the DMEPOS [durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies] Relief Act; and H.R. 2902, the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act — were key talking points when AAHomecare President/CEO Tom Ryan testified before the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee on Jan. 8.
“Now, the effort to build support for these three House bills, along with Senate companion legislation, takes center stage for our industry,” AAHomecare said in a Jan. 21 bulletin. “Establishing strong co-sponsor support for these bills is critical for their prospects to be approved by House and Senate committees of jurisdiction and to increase their chances to be added to an omnibus health care package this year.”
AAHomecare is hosting a free webinar — HME Advocacy Reset: The Bills that Need Action Now — on Monday, Feb. 9, starting at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time — to “refocus the industry on the legislative priorities that matter the most right now.”
The association also said it’s working with supporters in Congress “to develop legislation to delay the inclusion of continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, ostomy products, and urological supplies in the upcoming competitive bidding round.”
