Linda Rouse O’Neill, Vice President, Government Affairs
Linda Rouse O’Neill
A record number of HIDA member executives converged on Capitol Hill last month to educate lawmakers about key issues impacting healthcare suppliers and providers. More than 60 executives participated in over 100 meetings with members of Congress, their staff, and federal agency leaders during HIDA’s annual Washington Summit.
Participants reported productive discussions with congressional leaders and their staff from committees that influence the healthcare supply chain, including the Senate Finance and Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) committees, as well as the House Ways and Means and House Energy and Commerce committees.
Meetings centered on key industry issues including emergency preparedness, the value of laboratory diagnostics, the competitive bidding program for Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS), wholesaler licensing standards, and the medical device tax.
Focus on emergency preparedness
Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Health and Human Services Deputy Assistant Secretary Ed Gabriel, both speakers at the event, encouraged participants to continue to collaborate with government leaders to improve the nation’s readiness for epidemics.
Pandemic preparedness was a key topic at the Summit. The Ebola crisis in 2014 strengthened distributors’ relationships with government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control. This allowed both industry and government leaders to learn and adapt ahead of the current Zika outbreak.
Value of laboratory diagnostics
Members educated congressional representatives on the importance of lab diagnostics in combating the spread of infectious diseases like Zika. They highlighted the role of diagnostics in mapping and responding to an infectious disease outbreak, and in overall population health.
Upcoming changes to the clinical lab fee schedule could deter physicians from using these critical resources, participants said. They explained that these changes could result in significant reimbursement cuts for providers.
DME competitive bidding
From left to right: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), shakes hands with Akhil Agrawal, American Medical Depot, as other HIDA member executives look on.
Members also encouraged lawmakers to support the Patient Access to Durable Medical Equipment Act (PADME) of 2016 which would delay certain cuts to durable medical equipment (DME) reimbursement rates under Medicare’s competitive bidding program. Those cuts took effect July 1; the bill would retroactively delay their rollout in non-competitive bidding areas by 12 months.
The legislation would also require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to gather input from stakeholders and take into account travel cost, volume, and information on the number of providers serving bid areas as part of rate-setting activities.
By the time the Summit concluded, the House was considering legislation to implement this act, but key details, including the length of the proposed delay, varied substantially between the House and Senate versions. HIDA Government Affairs is following this legislation closely and will offer further analysis as this issue develops.
Medical device tax
HIDA members thanked legislators for the moratorium on the Affordable Care Act’s 2.3% excise tax on medical devices, and asked them to make it permanent. Participants explained that the potential reintroduction of the tax has held down investment and hiring.
Wholesaler licensure standard legislation
HIDA members also called on legislators to implement a uniform national standard for licensing wholesale distributors of prescription medical devices. Specifically, they sought legislation that allows individual states to continue to license wholesale distributors and not require a separate prescription device license if the wholesaler has a pharmaceutical wholesaler license pursuant to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).
Key takeaways
On the second day of the Summit, lawmakers and experts shared perspectives on key policy issues. Among the takeaways:
- Hospitals are experiencing an uptick in bad debt, due in part to the growing popularity of high-deductible health plans. These plans have grown tremendously since the Affordable Care Act was implemented, speakers noted.
- Shawn Martin, American Academy of Family Physicians, suggested that payment models that involve two-sided risks to providers, like capitation, could return as payers seek to hold down costs.
- Trent Haywood, Blue Cross Blue Shield, observed that care will continue its shift to the outpatient setting, especially as new technology strengthens smaller facilities’ capabilities.
HIDA continues to advocate on behalf of distributors through meetings with lawmakers and regulators and other efforts. Still, Summit speakers stressed that advocacy visits to Capitol Hill are the most powerful way to advance key issues because they allow lawmakers to understand the human side of each issue.