Looking South

Healthcare is a tricky business these days…I am increasingly finding myself looking and thinking to the South. Not the Islands – 465 miles South to be exact, right to Washington DC, where the American healthcare system is being reshaped, refined, and re-imagined as we speak. The reform efforts are bold and sweeping and they promise to dramatically redesign our healthcare delivery and payment infrastructures.
The home medical equipment and respiratory care community has fallen victim to these legislative changes in the past; consistently attacked and adjusted to provide increasing funding for other areas within the healthcare sub-sector, we know too well the perils presented in reform and the danger in allowing others to control our future.
This time appears to be different – at least the industry is taking a different tact as the change unfolds. The home respiratory care community is unveiling a sweeping proposal, designed to modify the home oxygen benefit to better align the costs and reimbursements within the system and to continue to aggressively attack and root our fraudulent providers who have managed to be granted Medicare supplier numbers and subsequently defrauded taxpayers, the federal government and given us honest providers a bad name and a big headache.
The key items within the proposed changes;
- Elimination of “Competitive Bidding” for oxygen services
- Elimination of the Cap on oxygen services
- Creating three new categories of patients, based on their service needs
- Establishment of the Home Oxygen Therapy Advisory Committee
- Extensive annual cost reporting
- Implementation of a thirteen point fraud and abuse plan
- Changing our status from “Suppliers” to “Providers”
All changes are designed to create a more sustainable system for the ongoing servicing of America’s population who require home oxygen services to live independently. Homecare remains the most cost efficient care delivery model and the preferred method of treatment for the great majority of American citizens, as such any and all reforms should encompass these facts and integrate them to create a fundable, sustainable, and desirable healthcare system for our country.
I hope the above changes to the home oxygen benefit are well received in Washington DC; I will be there the afternoon of April 21 to meet with several offices to discuss them and I am hopeful there will be recognition that this solution, which aims for budget neutrality, is the way forward for our citizens needs and is a wise choice and a smart investment for the future.
My eyes and ears remain well trained to see and hear what’s happening 465 miles south of here…with so much out of our control we remain deeply dedicated to providing the highest levels of service possible. Recognizing that, our efforts must be well trained on the outcomes we control and the things we have been widely applauded for over the last 32 years…our service, compassion, response, and dedication to doing the job to the very best of our ability.
For more information on the ongoing healthcare reform efforts please visit the White House Healthcare Reform website.