By Linda Rouse O’Neill
The power of advocacy
Linda Rouse O’Neill
If you’ve ever wondered if grassroots lobbying works, consider the medical device tax. Last June at HIDA’s annual Washington Summit, many of our distributor participants had the opportunity to bring up the tax’s negative impacts during meetings with key members of Congress and their staff. This was a crucial opportunity to add to the voices of those already advocating for the tax’s repeal and, in December, the tax was suspended for two years.
Going to Capitol Hill and meeting with your Senator or congressional Representative is one of the best ways to engage in the process that plays a significant role in your business. Hill visits are one of many tools used by HIDA Advocacy to impact legislative and regulatory policies.
Pandemic preparedness
Another important issue related to HIDA Advocacy efforts is emergency preparedness. Our members provide valuable input at Hill briefings throughout the year and, just last month, this column outlined how HIDA and the Healthcare Products Coalition – a group of manufacturers and distributors who work together on supply chain issues – submitted joint comments for the public record regarding policy recommendations on future federal pandemic situation responses.
As a result, we are a trusted resource with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as we work to ensure the supply chain can respond to demand spikes for necessary products like personal protective equipment, diagnostic tests, and devices used to administer vital therapies. Additionally, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Ed Gabriel will speak at our Washington Summit to offer his analysis of U.S. emergency response policies.
Competitive bidding
At our June summit, there will be a number of other important topics our members plan to discuss with key government stakeholders. For example, this March, the U.S. Senate introduced The Patient Access to Durable Medical Equipment Act of 2016 (S. 2736), bipartisan legislation that seeks to give relief to rural providers operating beyond the scope of Medicare’s Competitive Bidding program. For quite some time, distributors have been advocating for a bill like this to ease some of the burdens their customers face from the Competitive Bidding program.
The bill seeks to avert deep reimbursement cuts for DMEPOS products and services set to take effect this July, delaying cuts for these items in non-competitively bid areas by 15 months to October 1, 2017. The bill would also prohibit CMS from using payment amounts from previous bids as the ceiling for future bids, require CMS to solicit stakeholder input on rate-setting activities for 2019 and beyond, and require CMS to monitor outcomes and access issues for Medicare beneficiaries, among other provisions.
More work still needs to be accomplished around competitive bidding, however. In fact, getting the House to introduce a companion bill with similar provisions remains a top HIDA Advocacy priority and will likely be among several of our member talking points at this year’s Washington Summit.
Subhead: Getting involved
How would you like to make your voice and your customers’ voices heard in Washington? HIDA’s 2016 Washington Summit, June 29-30, is your next best opportunity to meet with federal political leaders in person and encourage them to continue their efforts in solving supply chain issues most important to you.
And if you can’t make it to D.C., but would like to get involved in HIDA Advocacy efforts or industry coalitions dedicated to a particular issue, please email us at HIDAGovAffairs@HIDA.org.