6/13/2008
JOINT RELEASE - APOA, NAAOP, ACA, AAOP & ABC
House Bill Represents Important Step Forward in Battle to Keep O&P Out of Paying For Medicare DME Competitive Bidding Delay
JOINT RELEASE of the:
American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association
National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics
Amputee Coalition of America
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists
American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics
TO: AOPA, NAAOP, ABC, AAOP and ACA Members
FROM: Thomas F. Fise, Esq., AOPA Executive Director
George W. Breece, NAAOP Executive Director
Paddy Rossbach, R.N., ACA President and CEO
Peter Rosenstein, AAOP Executive Director
Cathy Carter, ABC Executive Director
DATE: June 13, 2008
SUBJECT: Medicare Bill's Impact on O&P Fee Schedule
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Chairman Stark and Ranking Member Camp of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, along with a list of bipartisan House leaders, introduced a bill yesterday that would spare the Medicare O&P fee schedule of cuts to offset the $3.1 billion cost of delaying the competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment. This is a very significant preliminary victory for the O&P field, and an issue on which many members of AOPA, NAAOP, AAOP, ABC and the Amputee Coalition of America worked. But we will need to remain vigilant until Medicare legislation is passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President.
The bill, the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Acquisition Program Reform Act of 2008, would, among other things, delay the implementation of DME competitive bidding for 18 months. The competitive bidding program is currently scheduled to take effect in 10 U.S. cities on July 1, 2008. There were strong indications that the bill might include a cut to the O&P fee schedule to pay for the cost of delaying competitive bidding for DME. It is clear that at this point that the bill does not seek to cut O&P fees.
This represents very good, albeit interim, news for the O&P field, as well as patients who would find it difficult to access the care they need to remain active and healthy, if facilities were forced to shut down. The bill's approach maintains what we have been urging—namely that those who would benefit from the competitive bidding delay should bear the entire cost of that delay—a cut of around 9.5% to payment for these ten DME categories nationwide, which together comprise about 85% of Medicare expenditures in the DME field.
Special thanks go to our many members in the O&P field, as well as ACA consumer members, who made the effort to communicate with their Members of Congress on this issue. Those grassroots efforts were critical to our success to date.
The Senate is expected to adopt the same basic approach to the DME competitive bidding delay as the House. But we must remain vigilant to ensure that there are no efforts to change the structure of this bill and dip into the O&P fee schedule for additional cuts, especially through the amendment process on the Senate floor. The President will also have to sign the legislation which is difficult to forecast at this point.
So, the Medicare legislative debate goes on, and we will continue to have to watch the O&P fee schedule closely through the process of passage of some bill, most likely toward the end of this month. We will continue to keep everyone posted on significant developments, and thanks to ALL of you who jumped on board to call, email, and fax your Congressional offices to let them know how critical it is that O&P not be used to pay for a competitive bidding delay for DME. Stand ready—we’ll call on you if and when the O&P community needs to be mobilized again.
