Home Health & Hospice Week

Educate policy makers about oxygen.

Election year or not, 2008 could be the year Medicare cuts come to fruition in Congress--and home medical equipment suppliers remain an easy target.

That's the consensus of industry insiders who have reviewed key provisions from President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal year 2009. Included in the budget are provisions that would eliminate the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs and cut the capped-rental period for oxygen equipment from 36 months to 13 months.

"These provisions were a threat last year and they remain a threat this year," says Eric Sokol of the Power Mobility Coalition.

"As an industry, we are still quite vulnerable," Peter Kelly of the Coalition for Quality Respiratory Care tells Eli. "Suppliers should be very concerned."

Heavy-Hitters Go To Bat

Background: In his federal budget, released Feb. 4, the President proposes putting a lid on Medicare growth, resulting in savings of $178 billion in the next five years.

High-power lobbies including hospital trade groups were battling cuts to their industries even before Bush released his budget.

"That level of reduction is so outrageous that it will be summarily rejected by members of both parties in Congress," said Tom Nickels, senior vice president for the American Hospital Association in an article for the Associated Press.

That kind of assertion leaves the considerably smaller durable medical equipment especially vulnerable with the Medicare physician fix still on the table, but groups are gearing up to stave off further cuts in the coming year.

Don't Breathe Easy

The proposal to put a 13-month rental cap on oxygen equipment stems from policymakers' lack of understanding of patients' needs and how oxygen therapy can stave off unnecessary hospitalizations, charge industry experts.

Policymakers may be well advised to revamp Medicare payment policies for oxygen therapy, says Kelly, but not without "thoughtful analysis."

"The system we have is 19 years old," allows Kelly. "The current system is not one that reflects today's treatment practices or current technology."

But any action policymakers take should protect--not undermine--suppliers' ability to serve beneficiaries. "This is an important benefit," asserts Kelly.

Reality check: Studies have proven that oxygen therapy reduces rates of hospitalization and lengths of stay.