An open letter to Congressional leaders signed by 58 patient advocacy and home medical equipment groups urged lawmakers to pass H.R. 3790, the bill introduced by Rep. Kendrick Meek (D.-Fla.) that calls for the repeal of competitive bidding.
Rates for the Round One re-bid were recently announced, and since that time, the Meek bill has hovered at its current 252 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Our national, state and local organizations believe that this program is fundamentally flawed and will create significant obstacles to patient care while threatening the homecare infrastructure for our nation’s seniors and disabled,” wrote AAHomecare President Tyler Wilson in the letter. “The home medical equipment (HME) sector is dedicated to working with Congress to ensure H.R. 3790 will replace the troubled bidding program with a series of payment reductions for home medical equipment providers, ensuring that CBO-projected savings are met.”
The full text of the letter to Congressional leaders, and it’s signatories:
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
United States Capitol, H-232
Washington, DC 20515The Honorable Steny Hoyer
House Democratic Majority Leader
United States Capitol, H-107
Washington D.C. 20515The Honorable James Clyburn
Office of the Majority Whip
United States Capitol, H-329
Washington, DC 20515The Honorable Eric Cantor
Office of the Republican Whip
United States Capitol, H-307
Washington, DC 20515The Honorable John Boehner
Office of the Republican Leader
United States Capitol, H-204
Washington, DC 20515Dear Madam Speaker, Majority Leader, Republican Leader, Majority Whip, Republican Whip:
We, the undersigned organizations, strongly support Representative Kendrick Meek’s legislation, H.R. 3790, which would end the Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment (DME) in a budget-neutral manner. We urge Congress to pass this important legislation immediately. Our national, state and local organizations believe that this program is fundamentally flawed and will create significant obstacles to patient care while threatening the homecare infrastructure for our nation’s seniors and disabled.
As our nation’s medical system contends with the daunting challenge of providing coverage to an additional 30 million Americans while Medicare prepares for more than 70 million baby boomers to become Medicare eligible, now is not the time to prohibit 90 percent of homecare providers from serving Medicare beneficiaries. Such a move will harm patients by reducing access to homecare services and compromising the quality of care these beneficiaries receive.
According to physicians, clinicians and hospital case managers, the bidding program will disrupt the continuum of care by restricting patients from going to their providers of choice in order to receive the appropriate items and services that they require.
The home medical equipment (HME) sector is dedicated to working with Congress to ensure H.R. 3790 will replace the troubled bidding program with a series of payment reductions for home medical equipment providers, ensuring that CBO-projected savings are met.
This legislation has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. The elimination of the bidding program will prevent the needless closing of DME facilities, prevent the layoff of employees and ensure high-quality service and equipment that Medicare beneficiaries have become accustomed to receiving. Moreover, home medical equipment providers will be able to maintain their critical role in reducing the nation’s health care costs by allowing beneficiaries to stay in their homes with the products and services on which they depend.
Once again, we strongly urge you to take immediate action to stop the flawed competitive bidding program and pass this legislation which would terminate the program in a manner that achieves the same projected savings for Medicare.
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue. We look forward to working with you to protect Medicare beneficiaries’ access to the home medical equipment and services that they need.
Respectfully,