Page 6 - HME Business, March 2020

Editor’s Note
Take the Time to Get Involved
Providers need to carve out some time to urge lawmakers to support legislative initiatives to protect non-invasive ventilators and give relief to non-rural, non-bid area providers.
Volume 27 Number 2 March 2020
Executive Editor Associate Content Editor
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David Kopf
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Haley Samsel (972) 687-6739
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Marlin Mowatt David Kopf
(949) 265-1561 Rick Neigher (818) 597-9029
The average American
is constantly fighting wars of attrition. Whenever you have a billing dispute or customer service gripe, you call a customer service line that is pretty clearly designed to provide the complete opposite of customer service. Everyone has a story of waiting on hold for 90 minutes to receive zero satisfac- tion. Utilities, the cable company, your credit card, the car insurance — whatever the entity, they’re
all betting you give up so that they can scrape one more fee out of you, not have to refund you money, or not give some kind of credit due to you.
The same goes for CMS and the HME industry. In the battle against competitive bidding, HME has had to chip away at the flawed public policy — for years. And, as the industry succeeds in passing various pieces of legislation, CMS has distorted its interpretation and enforcement of those policies to maintain its war of attrition on HME.
So how do you win? You keep fighting. CMS is betting on you getting worn out and giving up, so the smartest course of action you can take is to join in every industry advocacy push.
You Have Work to Do
Speaking of not giving up, the industry is engaged in another advocacy push, and the effort needs more momentum. For several weeks now, industry advocates have been urging HME providers
and stakeholders to join the grassroots effort to convince lawmakers to co-sponsor the industry’s two bills in play, H.R. 2771 and H.R. 4945.
The two bills provide rural and non-bid area relief and remove non-invasive ventilators from competitive bidding. However, H.R. 2771 has been hovering at 73 co-sponsors, and H.R. 4945 at 46.
Everyone in the industry needs to take the time to support these two bills. Fortunately, there is a Congressional recess for meeting with lawmakers and staff are in their home districts March 16-20.
Here’s some info about both bills to help you advocate on their behalf:
Supporting H.R. 2771. Named the Protecting Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment Act of
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
2019, H.R. 2771 does three specific things:
• Permanently implement the blended, 50/50
rural relief rate after 2020.
• Provides additional relief for non-rural,
non-bid areas with a 75/25 blended rate (75 percent competitive bidding rates and 25 percent unadjusted fee schedule rates).
• Removes the budget neutrality offset for oxygen that was implemented in 2017.
To help the providers gain more co-sponsors, The American Association for Homecare provided a list of lawmakers who co-sponsored rural relief legisla- tion in the 115th Congress at bit.ly/39u22Ay.
Supporting H.R. 4945. Known as the Safeguarding Medicare Access to Respiratory Therapy (SMART) Act of 2019, H.R. 4945 would keep non-invasive ventilators out of the competitive bidding program. After a call for public comments drew hundreds of responses from respiratory providers, patient groups, clinicians and caregivers urging CMS not to do so, the agency added non- invasive ventilators to the list of products covered by Round 2021 of competitive bidding.
AAHomecare provided a list of lawmakers who backed a letter asking CMS to reconsider adding the ventilators to competitive bidding to identify co-sponsorship opportunities at bit.ly/2UQngED.
AAHomecare’s Take Action Center offers how-to tips on lobbying Congress bit.ly/AAHCaction.
Yes, sending emails, calling, and meeting with members of Congress can seem time-consuming, but that’s what CMS is betting on. However, taking the time could gain your business some friends on Capitol Hill, and by sticking it out in this war of attrition, it will pay lasting dividends.
Which reminds me — I have to give my insur- ance agent a call.
David Kopf
Publisher & Executive Editor HME Business
Steve Ackerman
President Spectrum Medical
Jeffrey S. Baird, Esq.
Chairman of the Health Care Group of Brown & Fortunato, P.C.
Cara Bachenheimer
Lobbyist/Government Affairs for Brown & Fortunato, P.C.
Rob Baumhover
Director of Retail Services for VGM Retail Services
Ty Bello, RCC
President and Founder Team@Work
Rob Boeye
Executive Vice President of HME Brightree LLC
John Letizia
President of Laurel Medical Supplies Inc.
Joe Lewarski
Vice President of Global Respiratory and Sleep Drive Devilbiss
Ron Resnick
President Blue Chip Medical Products Inc.
Tom Ryan
President and CEO AAHomecare
Wayne Slavitt
Founder and CEO Mobül: The Mobility Store
Wayne van Halem
President and Founder The van Halem Group LLC
Sandra Canally
President
The Compliance Team Inc.
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REACHING THE STAFF
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