As the industry keeps advancing the rural relief IFR and H.R. 4229, the American Association for Homecare and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) are preparing to brief a large audience of Congressional staffers next week on the negative impact of competitive bidding.
Scheduled by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) the meeting will focus on two research presentations: AAHomecare’s study (http://bit.ly/2C69K2N) on competitive bidding’s impact o HME patients, discharge planners, and ATS’s study (http://bit.ly/2FYOGgX) that shows access problems experienced by oxygen patients.
AAHomecare noted that while it had shared findings from the surveys with law makers, staff, HHS, CMS and OMB, the meeting would reach a larger number of Capitol Hill staff, and hopefully increase support for H.R. 4229, as well as broader reforms of the competitive bidding program.
The briefing is scheduled for Feb. 14 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time in room 137 of the U.S. Capitol. In addition to the presentations by the lead authors of both surveys,AAHomecare President and CEO Tom Ryan will share remarks on the program, and Mike Calcaterra, Northern Zone vice president of Spokane, Wash.-based Norco Inc. will share a provider’s perspective of the bid program.
“Please help demonstrate the HME community’s support for Rep. McMorris Rodgers and build strong attendance for this event by asking your contacts in House and Senate offices to attend this briefing,” a statement from AAHoemcare read.
Providers can forward an invitation (http://bit.ly/2FXOS02) to their Representative’s office and urge their staff to attend. Providers seeking contact information for healthcare legislative assistants can contact AAHomecare’s Gordon Barnes at gordonb@aahomecare.org.