WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) is concerned that Medicare’s proposed competitive bidding program could have substantial negative consequences on patient access and quality of care. The council says it’s time to pass reform that permanently removes the supplemental oxygen benefit from the program.

“While we continue to review the proposed rule to understand its full impact and scope, the CQRC is deeply concerned the methodology proposed by CMS could impede patient access to life-sustaining supplemental oxygen,” said Robin Menchen, CQRC chair. “CQRC greatly appreciates CMS’s previous decision to pause the CBP and encourages the agency to carefully consider flaws in the previous CBP model that resulted in below-market rates, drastically lower reimbursement and restricted patient access to modalities of care that help our most at-risk beneficiaries.

“Proposals that prioritize government savings over patient needs will only exacerbate access issues already well documented in peer-reviewed research under the prior bidding model,” she continued. “Additionally, the decision to reinstate competitive bidding for oxygen therapies underscores the critical importance of passing the SOAR Act this year to ensure supplemental oxygen equipment and supplies remain available.”

CQRC strongly supports the bipartisan Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act (S. 1406/H.R. 2902) – also championed by patient, patient advocacy, disease and physician groups nationwide – which would remove oxygen from the competitive bidding program and eliminate the barrier Medicare rates have created for patients seeking access to liquid oxygen.

In addition, the SOAR Act would strengthen fraud and abuse policies, implement patient protections, support access to respiratory therapy services, and strengthen access to supplemental oxygen care in rural and underserved communities.

“CQRC will provide formal comments to CMS to ensure patient access is protected and lessons learned from previous rounds of competitive bidding are applied in the final rule,” said Menchen. “Simultaneously, we will continue working with our coalition partners and champions in Congress to secure passage of the SOAR Act in the 119th Congress to permanently remove oxygen from future rounds of competitive bidding.”