The Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) has praised the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for excluding supplemental oxygen and CPAP devices and supplies from the upcoming round of Medicare competitive bidding.
The home health final rule that confirmed CMS’s plans to restart competitive bidding with significantly different policies was published Nov. 28.
“Listening to concerns outlined by the CQRC and other oxygen stakeholders, Medicare’s decision to omit supplemental oxygen and CPAP and associated supplies from the CBP [competitive bidding program] next year will lock in previous savings while protecting patient access to life-sustaining oxygen supplies and services,” CQRC said in a Dec. 4 announcement.
“We commend the administration for recognizing and responding to our concerns and not including supplemental oxygen and CPAP in the competitive bidding program in 2026,” said Robin Menchen, CQRC chair. “Each day, some 1.5 million Americans rely on home respiratory therapy, including supplemental oxygen, to treat their conditions, improve their quality of life, and maintain their independence. The CQRC applauds CMS’s decision to leave oxygen and CPAP out of the CBP to preserve access to home-based respiratory care for these beneficiaries.”
CQRC also again urged support for the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) act, written “to further refine the supplemental oxygen benefit and proactively address remaining barriers to patient access. … The SOAR Act would strengthen fraud and abuse policies, implement patient protections, support access to respiratory therapy services, and strengthen access to supplemental oxygen care in rural and underserved communities.”
The CQRC response has been among the few from the durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) industry thus far to praise the sweeping changes published by CMS — including a move to annual accreditation of providers; the addition of ostomy, tracheostomy, and urological supplies to the competitive bidding program, and the sharp reduction of Medicare providers for a number of product categories.
