Page 21 - HME Business, January/February 2022

Working with partners Keybridge Communications, AAHomecare has run a nine-month media campaign touting the value of HME and the need for market-based reimbursement generated nearly 100 placements in print, online, and on television. The association esti- mates that the coverage reached almost 130 million people across 26 states and the District of Columbia since its April 2021 launch.
The campaign hit all the right notes when it comes to supporting legislation calling for revised DME reimbursement:
• One of the high-profile elements of the campaign was an opinion
column, “Outdated Medicare Rules Threaten Older Americans’ Access to Home Medical Equipment,” authored by AAHomecare’s vice chair, Josh Marx, that ran in healthcare-focused STAT News. The piece detailed the business environment the industry is facing and makes a case for sustainable rates.
• The campaign also secured wide syndication for a story by the influential non-profit outlet CalMatters that detailed the impacts of product shortages, shipping container costs, and other supply chain problems impacting HME providers.
• Two columns written by AAHomecare’s Ryan that discussed HME providers’ supply chain challenges and the cost structures the industry is facing. Initially written for InsideSources and the International Business Times, both columns were syndicated in dozens of print and online outlets.
• A Jan. 4 Spectrum News story and video that included supply and price issues impacting HME suppliers in the Albany, N.Y. area.
“So, we have been setting the table from a PR standpoint, talking about the value for home care, talking about supply chain issues, talking about the need for a raise,” Ryan explains.
With Reps. Mullin and Tonko’s 90/10 legislation poised for release at press time, AAHomecare is launching an industry-wide push for HME providers to urge their lawmakers to be original co-sponsors for the bill. The grassroots outreach should help increase the aware- ness of the need to fix DME reimbursement.
“We’ll have another Op-Ed that’s more specific that’ll talk about how the legislative language is in the Hill’s hands and we need them to act upon it,” Ryan notes. The first challenge will be to get co-sponsors. Then you have to find a vehicle; that will be the next challenge.”
And while holding out for another legislative vehicle to come along extends the reimbursement waiting game just a little bit more, it’s a “long game” that the industry is playing to win.
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
hme-business.com | January/February 2021 | HMEBusiness 21 7/30/21 3:53 PM
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