2011 AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference

Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Washington DC for the 2011 AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference, an annual event designed to help home medical equipment and respiratory care providers educate members of Congress on the important role we play in the healthcare continuum in the United States and talk specific issues and legislative priorities as they exist. It just so happened last week there was plenty to talk about as Representatives Jason Altmire (D – PA) and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R – PA) introduced legislation to repeal Medicare’s deceivingly titled “Competitive Bidding” program…the bill H.R. 1041 was introduced earlier last week, so our arrival on The Hill was timely and relevant.
I flew down early Wednesday morning, arriving in time to participate in a half day of meetings around the specific issues, and several members of Congress attended to deliver remarks in support of the work we do for America’s seniors. There were several inspiring moments…given events of the last several years members of the home medical equipment community could be forgiven for thinking that nobody in Washington DC knew what they were legislating on and everyone was out to get us…given the broad support we received from members of the House and Senate, from both parties, that day it was quite clear this was not the case. Many members were seeing first-hand the numerous unintended consequences of Medicare’s “Competitive Bidding” program – a program designed with so many deficiencies that it’s hard to believe it ever saw the light of day.
If you’re not familiar with “Competitive Bidding” it’s a slapstick effort by Medicare officials to lower cost by auctioning off the right to service Medicare beneficiaries in their home to the lowest bidder, irrespective of quality, service, etc. The program remains so amazingly short-sighted that I still draw blank stares when I describe it to people outside the industry, as if they instantly recognize how ridiculous it is and can’t believe something like it has been put into law…yet it has, and in nine cities across the United States people are losing their jobs and access to medical equipment and home respiratory care because of it. Those nine cities will soon balloon to 100, when an additional 91 cities are added to the mix – because, well, it’s not enough to screw up healthcare in nine cities, let’s blow it out all the way across the country before anyone figures out how bad it is…that sounds like a great idea!
Thursday was a very busy day of meetings on The Hill, starting with the office of MA Senator Scott Brown, who has some very thoughtful and intelligent healthcare people on staff and did a great job of hearing our concerns about how residents of MA will be impacted if the program is to move forward – it was a great meeting overall. From there I blitzed across to the House side to meet with newly elected Congressman Bill Keating, our Cape and Islands Congressman, who was joined by his healthcare aide and was also incredibly generous with his time and sought to try and really understand the issue in a meaningful and sincere way.
I met with folks from across MA, and the country…by the end of the day I tallied nine meetings, with offices in MA, TX, MD, AZ – anyone who would listen to me I talked to, and most meetings went very well. Today more than ever there is broad understanding that this is bad policy and it needs to be stopped. While we continue to be supportive of efforts to reduce federal spending we also must draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough…we have endured cuts approaching 50% in the last 15 years and there is no more room left to go from here, we have to stop the madness of being pushed around by a legislative body that doesn’t understand the fundamental costs or benefits of the services we provide and we have to stop them now, before the damage they inflict is too great to ever reassemble an industry that remains a critical component of keeping patients safe and independent in their homes, and as such creates massive annual savings for tax payers. The frustration from provider’s remains palpable and not a day goes by that we don’t hear more stories about people exiting the business – willingly or unwillingly – after falling victim again to shortsighted policy decisions and truly reckless legislative agendas.
I was enthused when I left – feeling strongly that H.R. 1041 has momentum and that our elected officials understand what we are going through and why we need to put a stop to the insanity that has been foisted upon our industry by a few dim lights at Medicare. I will continue to fight for the rights of our patients and employees and tell the compelling story about how the services companies like ours provide create tremendous net savings for the healthcare system and the consequence for the healthcare system if they continue to put providers out of business and ratchet down rates...there are numerous downstream consequences and costs that are not being accounted for in the current “savings” calculators.
I left feeling I had been heard, that my thoughts and opinions were being considered, which is all we can hope for in a democratic process. We shall see in the coming weeks how many folks I met with sign on to H.R. 1041 – that will be the true measure of my success for this trip, and I continue to work daily to make sure it’s a good percentage…because I believe in the great work our team and industr does and I understand that we only have a small window to stop this thing in its tracks – after that you can kiss your quality care goodbye, forever.

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