The North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services has slated a meeting with Mike Fenley of Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)’s office to discuss the nationwide expansion of competitive bidding in 2016.

The meeting will be held April 17 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time at Advanced Homecare, 4001 Piedmont Parkway, High Point, NC 27265. NCAMES reports Sen. Burr will attend if his schedule allows.

The meeting will focus on the effects this expansion will have on HME providers, as well as Medicare beneficiaries, who will likely lose access to durable medical equipment and services in rural areas if the expansion goes through as planned.

Another topic of discussion will be CMS’s audit program for Medicare claims, which are also negatively impacting HME businesses and beneficiaries.

“By expressing our concerns together, we will show Sen. Burr’s staff the importance of fixing these flawed programs,” a statement from NCAMES read.

The North Carolina Association noted that The VGM Group Inc. worked with NCAMES to schedule the meeting, and John Gallagher, vice president of Government Relations at VGM & Associates, will attend the meeting to provide “technical” information.

That said, the NCAMES announcement stressed that the meeting needed providers’ first-hand experiences with the programs to drive home the point that the bidding expansion and audit program need reform.

Providers wishing to attend should RSVP via email to Beth Bowen at beth@ncames.org, or Emily Harken (VGM) at emily.harken@vgm.com, or call 866-512-8465.