Thank the Legislators who Voted to Extend Pause on Medicare Sequester Cuts
WASHINGTON, DC – As previously noted, the House approved H.R. 1868 (amended legislation extending the moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequester cuts through 2021) resulting in approximately $158 million more in Medicare payments to HME suppliers over the rest of the year.
The updated bill passed the House by a 384 to 38 margin, echoing its overwhelming approval by the Senate in late March, with 90 in favor and just two against. This formidable show of support in both chambers provides a chance to thank a vast majority of Congress for their vote and also provides a chance to remind legislators of the HME industry’s role in the healthcare continuum.
Congressional legislative staff receive a steady stream of requests and asks for support every day, so a brief and sincere “thank you” will stand out. This is an efficient way to help build or strengthen a relationship with healthcare staff and set that stage for future outreach. You can see whether your House member voted for H.R. 1868 here, and the Senate tally is shown here.
See sample language/messages for your email here. Contact Gordon Barnes at [email protected] if you would like contact info for Congressional staffers who handle healthcare issues or for assistance in developing your email.
AAHomecare Partners with PR Firm
WASHINGTON, DC – AAHomecare is kicking off a sustained earned media campaign to build awareness of the essential, high-value care that HME delivers. The campaign is led by Keybridge Communications, who will engage influential healthcare journalists as well as develop and place op-eds to highlight our industry’s important role in the healthcare continuum and make the case for HME policy priorities.
“Stepping up our strategic communications capacity is essential to our continued efforts to bring home more policy wins for HME suppliers and manufacturers,” said Tom Ryan, AAHomecare president and CEO. “Keybridge Communications brings a strong level of experience in developing effective messages and demonstrated ability to drive media coverage that make them an ideal partner in this effort.”
The campaign will focus on demonstrating the value through increasing news coverage and placing op-ed columns in national and other high-impact media outlets, as well as with publications that influence policy on Capitol Hill and in the Administration. AAHomecare will also utilize Keybridge’s capabilities to help move the needle in support of major state-level legislative initiatives.
“HME’s important role to protecting patient health has never been more evident thanks to our industry’s contributions in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic,” observed Ryan. “This campaign will underscore those tremendous efforts and also make sure that the public and policymakers understand the critical need to support this industry to serve the ever-growing population of Americans who depend on the care we provide.”
AAHomecare to Comment on AHRQ’s Report on CPAP Studies
WASHINGTON, DC – With the guidance of HME/RT Council’s PAP Work Group, AAH developed comments to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) draft report on CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For this report, AHRQ reviewed available studies on CPAP treatment for OSA. The draft report concludes there is a lack of consistency in measuring the efficacy of CPAP and additional studies are needed to gain a better understanding of CPAP therapy’s impact on OSA patients.
AAHomecare’s comments will be supporting the clinical community comments as the report specifically analyzed the numerous clinical studies. We will be submitting comments prior to the deadline (Friday, April 23).You can find AHRQ’s draft report here.