Page 8 - HME Business, April 2018

News / Trends / Analysis
AAHomecare Sets Sights on Appropriations Legislation
With IFR potentially stalled at OMB, association president called on industry to lobby House, Senate decision-makers to include rural relief language in government funding bill.
After pushing to help get 56 Represent- atives to add their signatures to a House sign-on letter, the American Association re-focused its efforts on getting H.R. 4229 language added
to the omnibus appropriations bill, rather than advancing the Interim Final Rule on rural relief.
At press time, Congress had until March 23 to fund the government, putting the onus on the industry to prioritize a legislative push to get H.R. 4229’s rural relief provisions added to the next appropriations bill, which would keep the govern- ment funded. The bill’s main provisions:
• It would effectively roll back the second round of cuts for non-bid area suppliers, effective retroac- tively to January 1, 2017 and through 2018.
• It would address rate cuts caused by the misap- plication of a 2006 budget neutrality offset balancing increased utilization for oxygen gener- ating portable equipment with lower reimburse- ment for stationary equipment.
Knowing that 128 co-sponsors have already backed H.R. 4229, the association used that support as the springboard to launch the push.
AAHomecare President and CEO Tom Ryan urged the industry to “make a strong lobbying push aimed at decision makers on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to reinforce the message on the recent sign-on letter to House Appropriations leaders.”
Frustrating IFR Setback
The IFR, which has languished at the Of ce of Management and Budget since August, would resume the 50/50, blended fee schedule for rural and non-bid areas that was in effect during the phase-in of national bid expansion during Jan.
1, 2016 to June 30, 2016, and apply it to claims submitted between Aug. 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2018. It would also exclude home infusion drugs used with HME from competitive bidding.
Up until February, industry advocates had pushed hard to enlist lawmakers to call on OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to release the IFR. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.
“When CMS announced that they had sent an HME-related IFR to the Of ce of Management
and Budget in late August of last year, many in the HME community — myself included — thought
we might be on the verge of getting signi cant relief for rural providers ...,” Ryan noted. “... As we approach 200 days since the IFR was sent to OMB, and without any recent signs of urgency or forth- coming action from HHS, CMS, or OMB in support of the IFR, it’s becoming increasingly possible the IFR may never be nalized.
“While this realization is a dif cult pill to swallow, it also underscores the importance of our legislative efforts to roll back a portion of bidding- derived cuts for rural providers and xing the ‘double dip’ cuts for rural oxygen,” He added. n
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56 Lawmakers Back Sign-on Letter
AAHomecare push to adopt H.R. 4229 language garners support from Representatives from across the country; sets stage for further lobbying efforts.
A total of 56 Representatives added their signatures to a House sign-on letter calling for Congress to add legislative language that would protect rural and non-bid area patients and providers to upcoming legislation.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) released the letter in February, asking key committee chairs and ranking members of the House to support adding language from H.R. 4229 into upcoming legislation that would keep the government funded.
In the letter, McMorris asserted to her colleagues that H.R. 4229 would continue a x that was started (and since expired) in the 21st Century Cures Act, legislation they’ve already passed:
“Due to mounting concerns about access to this cost-effective and patient-preferred method
of care, especially in non-CBAs or rural America, Congress intervened and included language in the 21st Cens. It’s estimated that over 40 percent of traditional DME companies nationwide have either closed or are no longer taking Medicare patients due to these unsustainable payment cuts.”
Upon the letter’s release, the American Association for Homecare organized an industry- wide push to help industry advocates and providers lobby lawmakers to support the letter.
“In addition, we’ve heard several reports
from AAHomecare members who spoke
with staffers for Representatives on the Appropriations Committee who indicated they would let Committee leadership know that they endorsed this request directly,” a statement from AAHomecare read. n
8 HMEBusiness | April 2018 | hme-business.com
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