House Representatives voted to approve an amended version of the Patient Access to Durable Medical Equipment Act of 2016 (H.R. 5210), which would delay national bidding expansion’s second round of cuts to Sept. 30.

The American Association for Homecare praised the successful voice vote, which came after the industry House sit-in on gun legislation made it impossible for the House to pass PADME before the July 1 implementation date on CMS’s second round of cuts. AAHomecare and other industry advocates had engaged in a flurry of lobbying activity in the wake of that sit-in to eventually secure yesterday’s positive voice vote.

In addition to the Sept. 30 delay, the amended House version would also:

• Instruct the Dept. of Health and Human Services to study the impact of bidding-derived payment adjustments on suppliers and beneficiary access by September (the exact date as not specified). 
• Include other non-HME-specific Medicare- and Medicare-related bills that have previously passed the House, as well as other unrelated items as noted in this bill summary.

The Senate passed its version of PADME (S. 2736, which delay the cuts through June 2017) on June 24. This sets the stage to move the legislation toward final approval.

“Now the House and Senate need to complete the process and send a bill to the President,” said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of AAHomecare. “With the new rates now going into effect, we need our champions in both the House and Senate to find a way to move forward immediately.”

Ryan also urged home medical equipment providers to contact their representatives in both the House and Senate to ask for their support in moving the bill to Executive approval.

“With Congress set to adjourn on July 15, there’s a real sense of urgency to finding a workable solution by next week,” Ryan explained. “If the HME community and Congress can’t get rural relief legislation passed, I expect to see more reports of rural providers who are either curtailing their offerings to Medicare beneficiaries, abandoning the program altogether, or going out of business. As a result, seniors and people with disabilities, as well as the people who care for them, are going to find it harder to get the products and services they depend on.”