AAHomecare to Detail Legislative, Regulatory Priorities

National HME association will outline its key advocacy objectives for the year at Medtrade Spring’s Washington Update.

• By David Kopf
• Feb 18, 2016

The American Association for Homecare will outline its plans for addressing this year’s pivotal HME industry legislative and regulatory issues on March 1 at Medtrade Spring.

Reining in the competitive bidding program and securing meaningful audit reform remain top the list of AAHomecare’s industry advocacy priorities for 2016. The association will provide a detailed agenda on this issues and others at 8 a.m. on March 1 in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center’s Islander room E.

Tom Ryan, AAHomecare president, and Jay Witter, senior vice president of public policy will discuss the challenges ahead as the association and other industry stakeholders work with Congressional champions to build on last year’s efforts to provide relief for rural bidders under the bidding program, and to fix CMS’ decision to set bid ceilings for subsequent bidding rounds at the rates set in the previous round.

Other issues covered will include recent coding changes that are causing significant challenges for ventilator patients and providers, as well as efforts to keep CMS from applying bidding derived rates to complex rehab accessories. Kim Brummett, vice president for regulatory affairs, will discuss issues including what’s ahead for prior authorization, face-to-face requirements, and continued efforts to bring more transparency, consistency and common sense to the various CMS audits covering the HME sector.

The Washington Update is designed to present an insider’s view of what’s ahead for our industry at regulatory agencies and in Congress, and to help prepare you to join in our efforts to deliver better public policy for HME providers and patients nationwide

The event is open to AAHomecare members and non-members alike, and the association encourages all providers to invite their peers to join them at the session.