Page 6 - HME Business, June 2018

News / Trends / Analysis
IFR Increases Rural Rates for 7 Months
Blended, 50/50 rate schedule for rural and limited non-bid areas resumes, running June 1 through Dec. 31.
Bachenheimer
to Serve as
AAHomecare
General Counsel
Well-known industry advocate joins Brown & Fortunato on June 1, where she will provide General Counsel support to industry association.
HME advocate Cara Bachenheimer will join industry law firm Brown & Fortunato on June
1 in order to open a new Washington, D.C. office for the firm, and one of her first duties will be to provide General Counsel support for the American Association for Homecare.
AAHomecare has retained Brown & Fortunato, P.C. to provide a range of legal and advisory services. In her leading role, Bachenheimer will support the association in handling regulatory, legislative, and Association governance duties.
“Cara Bachenheimer is one of the most respected individuals in the HME advocacy arena,” said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of AAHomecare. “We are excited to add her considerable expertise and credi- bility to the fight for sustainable reimbursement rates and sensible regulatory policies for our industry.
“Jeff and his company have been active supporters of AAHomecare and the HME commu- nity for as long as I can remember, and he is truly committed to helping secure better public policy for this industry,” he added.
Bachenheimer served as senior vice president for government relations for Invacare Corp. over the last 14 years. Her 30 years of experience in the healthcare field includes roles as vice president
of government relations for the Health Industry Distributors Association.
“I have had a front-row view of Cara’s work on HME public policy issues over the years, and I have always come away impressed by her depth of knowl- edge and strategic thinking,” Ryan added. “She has a great sense of what can practically be accomplished on Capitol Hill and at regulatory agencies and has a clear view of the best path forward to achieve it.”
Bachenheimer also has participated on AAHomecare’s Regulatory Council, and she has served on the Association’s Board of Directors since 2012. She has been recognized with various industry honors including the 2014 Homecare Champion award from AAHomecare. n
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued an interim final rule that would resume the 50/50 blended rate schedule for rural and some non-bid areas.
The IFR will resume those rates starting from June 1 through Dec. 31 and will affect rural areas and non-contiguous areas (Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories) that are non-bid areas. The full text of the IFR can be read here at bit.ly/2wAgt7y.
The new rates will help rural providers keep their doors open to patients, noted Tom Ryan, pres- ident and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, who expressed gratitude for the relief,
but added that more needed to be done. “Today’s action provides substantial and much-
needed relief HME suppliers in rural areas — and also for patients, caregivers and clinical profes- sionals in small communities nationwide,” Ryan said. “We are, however, very disappointed that the relief does not extend to non-bid areas that are not ‘rural’ or ‘non-contiguous’ (e.g., HI, AL). We strongly believe that more extensive relief is needed, this same relief should have been applied to the rest of the non-bid areas.
“This omission of other non-bid areas stands in stark contrast to consistent Congressional intent to extend relief for all non-bid areas expressed in both the 2016 Cures law and other outreach to the Administration,” he added.
Bearing that in mind, Ryan said AAHomecare would continue to work with the administra- tion and lawmakers to see the relief applied to providers in all non-bid areas.
“We also believe that some measure of retro- active relief, as proposed in H.R. 4229 remains warranted, and we also need to address the uncer- tainty on these rates beyond 2018,” he said. “I believe their strong outreach to CMS and OMB,
“Today’s action provides substantial and much-needed relief ...,” said AAHomecare President and CEO Tom
Ryan. “We are, however, very disappointed that the relief does not extend to non-bid areas that are not ‘rural’ or ‘non-contiguous’ (e.g., HI, AL).”
WEBINARS
More industry intelligence is available at hme-business.com.
Upcoming Webinar – On July 12, Jeffrey S. Baird, Esq. chairman of the Health Care Group of industry law firm Brown & Fortunato, P.C., will present a “don’t miss” webinar on how providers can create a legally compliant referral network. If you want to ensure your business is making proper arrangements with physi- cians and avoiding any potential landmines, make sure to sign up for this presentation.
FREE On-Demand Webinars — In Your Entry Into E-commerce,” Christina Throndson, Director of Business Development for VGM Forbin helps providers understand that e-commerce is less complex than they imagine and the basics of implementing it within their businesses. Best of all, registration for the event is free thanks to sponsors McKesson Corp.
In “HME Collections Boot Camp,” sponsored by Brightree LLC, presenter Lisa Ziehl discusses how HME providers are leaving money on the table and the ways they can increase the efficiency and accu- racy of their billing processes. Ziehl has been in the HME industry since 2004, and as a Strategic Account Executive with Brightree, she works tirelessly to help providers maximize their business efficiency.
Learn more about and watch all HME Business webinars at hme-business.com/webinars.
6 HMEBusiness | June 2018 | hme-business.com
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
as well as the conference report language in the recent Omnibus bill encouraging the Administration to release the IFR, played a major part in getting this relief. We need to continue to engage our legis- lators to let them know that the job isn’t finished.
“This IFR is the culmination of a determined campaign by HME stakeholders to get relief for rural suppliers that stretches back over more than two years,” Ryan continued, “There is more work to be done, and I hope I can count on the HME communi- ty’s continued passion and persistence to build on this measure of relief.” n