WASHINGTON, DC – Both the House and Senate return from their Memorial Day recess next week to kick off the Summer legislative season in both chambers. With the exception of a week off for Independence Day, the House is scheduled to be in session until July 26, while the Senate plans to stay on through August 2. A complete Congressional calendar can be found here.

These next two months will be critical to our efforts to build upon the strong impression that HME advocates made at last week’s Washington Legislative Conference, visiting approximately 300 Congressional offices covering 44 states.

Other conference highlights included substantive remarks from keynote speaker Nick Uehlecke, an Advisor at the Department of Health & Human Services, as well as recognition for Barb Stockert of Sanford HealthCare Accessories as this year’s AAHomecare/Mal Mixon Legislative Advocate award honoree. The group also rallied for our friend Karyn Estrella, a highly effective HME leader who has been a strong presence at past Legislative Conferences, by wearing purple.

AAHomecare encourages providers to reach out to Representatives and Senators when they return next week on these issues. Please note the supporting materials also referenced:

• Ask your Representative to co-sponsor HR 2771, legislation to provide additional non-CBA relief and reform oxygen reimbursement policy.  Issue brief
• Ask your Senators and Representative to join Congressional sign-on letters keeping non-invasive ventilators out of the bidding program. Issue brief– Senate letter – House letter  –Multi-stakeholder letter on NIV & CB – ALS position on NIV & CB
• Ask your legislators to co-sponsor manual CRT accessories bills – S 1223in the Senate andHR 2293 in the House. Issue brief
• Ask your Representative to co-sponsor HR 2408, legislation to establish a Medicare separate benefit for CRT. Issue brief

Providers can also send a pre-drafted letter on these issues to legislators via the Action Center. AAHomecare suggests adding individual perspectives on these issues to the drafted text to make a more powerful impression. Find contact information for your Senators and Representative here – you can also email Gordon Barnes at [email protected] for contact information for Congressional staff who handle healthcare issues for legislators.

These next two months are critical to build on the legislative conference and generate Congressional interest in these issues. Engage your legislators on whichever issues most directly impact your companies, patients and communities.

AAHomecare Advocates for Sustainable Medicaid Reimbursement Rates for Patient Lifts in Texas

WASHINGTON, DC – Last week, AAHomecare submitted comments to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission regarding Medicaid coverage of patient lifts (codes E0639 and E0640). The comments note that the current pricing is far too low for these products, threatening patient access for items. AAHomecare proposes that the Agency set rates at the manually priced code rate of 82% of MSRP while more data is gathered to determine a fair fixed rate that will guarantee access in the long term. See AAHomecare’s comments here.