North Carolina Home Medical Equipment Providers Travel to Washington to Advocate for Better Home Medical Care for Seniors and People with DisabilitiesPublished: 2010-07-10 23:28:52Author: NCAMES | March 16, 2010CARY, N.C. -- Home
medical equipment service providers from seventeen North Carolina-based
companies travelled to Washington, D.C. last week to urge members of
Congress to support new legislation that will strengthen homecare
availability for millions of older Americans and people with
disabilities who require home-based medical equipment and services.
The
group met with the entire North Carolina Congressional delegation,
including Senators Burr and Hagan.
"Home-based care is by far the
most cost-effective setting for post-acute care," said Beth Bowen,
Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Home Medical
Equipment Services (NCAMES). "Quality home medical equipment and
services help to reduce hospitalizations, ER visits, and admission to
nursing homes."
The North Carolina home medical equipment
providers visiting Washington asked members of Congress to support H.R.
3790, a bipartisan bill that would preserve access to homecare and
provide a cost-effective alternative to a flawed Medicare bidding
program for durable medical equipment.
"The current Medicare
bidding program is very restrictive" said Bowen. "It is poised to put
many of the best community-focused providers out of business,
eliminating competition in the long run. It also promotes irresponsible
'suicide bidding' using economic coercion to force providers to bid at
unsustainable reimbursement rates. For providers here in North Carolina,
it's a job killer. Coming on top of the many other reimbursement cuts
our sector has suffered, this flawed program will reduce services that
Medicare beneficiaries need."
H.R. 3790 replaces the Medicare
bidding program with other types of cost-savings and at the same time
preserves access to home-based care. The bill currently has 176
cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, with broad bipartisan
support that includes 106 Democrats and 70 Republicans. Nine members of
North Carolina's congressional delegation are currently signed on as
cosponsors: Reps. G. K. Butterfield, Howard Coble, Bob Etheridge, Walter
B. Jones, Jr., Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller, Sue Myrick,
and Heath Shuler.
Representative Shuler also spoke to a several
hundred individuals in the home medical equipment industry at a
conference hosted by the American Association for Homecare, which
represents providers of home medical equipment and services. Shuler
spoke about his own grandfather's requirement for oxygen after suffering
a stroke. Shuler said, "His quality of life escalated unbelievably."
Shuler has been a steady champion for HME concerns, focusing especially
on small-business implications.
ABOUT NCAMES
With close to
300 member companies and growing, the North Carolina Association for
Medical Equipment Services (NCAMES) is the statewide leader in
preserving access to safe, affordable, and therapeutic home medical
equipment. We provide advocacy and education to home medical equipment
(HME) providers statewide dedicated to helping North Carolina's growing
senior population and patients of all ages gain more mobility and
experience a high quality of life in the comfort and privacy of their
own homes. NCAMES was instrumental in passing the nation's first HME
licensure law which has been working to ensure quality home health care
since 1995, and fully supports pending legislation H.R. 3790 to continue
HME access for patients in need. For more information, visit www.ncames.org or call (919)-387-1221.
Carolina Newswire