Home Health & Hospice Week

Oxygen suppliers may be especially vulnerable.

Washington insiders predict plenty of activity on the Medicare front in the coming months. That means you'll do well to make plenty of noise if you're a supplier of home medical equipment.

How Congress acts on budget proposals affecting HME is at this point "a political question," says Eric Sokol of the Power Mobility Coalition.

Background: On Congress' agenda is the matter of how to block a 10.6 percent cut in physician payments due July 1 and a nearly 16 percent cut next January. Lawmakers are expected to draft that legislative remedy--which could include cuts to HME spending--by the end of March or early April.

"We'll have to see if lawmakers roll up their sleeves and address long-term concerns about Medicare spending or if they slap another Band-Aid on the problem," says Sokol.

As part of that process, the Senate Finance Committee is likely to take a hard look at the HME spending--especially how Medicare pays for oxygen equipment rental, insiders say.

Extending a physician fix for 18 months would come at a cost of $12 billion to $15 billion, and HME suppliers could be tapped to fund the fix.

"We may not see a 13-month cap, but a reduction in the cap is certainly possible," predicts Peter Kelly of the Coalition for Quality Respiratory Care.

To do your part to stave off further cuts, contact policy makers on these key committees, suggests Kelly:

• Senate Finance Committee
• House Ways & Means Committee (Subcommittee on Health)
• House Energy & Commerce Committee.

Suppliers have their work cut for them. "The [HME cuts on the table] really stem from a lack of understanding on the part of lawmakers--and a lack of education from the provider community," says Kelly.