The American Association for Homecare (AAH) Washington Legislative Conference took place this week. More than 250 providers of home medical equipment and services gathered to hear Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) speak about issues in Medicare.

Providers attending the conference planned to recommend fundamental reform regarding Medicare's policy on durable medical equipment (DME). The group also included plans to discuss the integrity of the program pertaining to quality standards of home medical equipment (HME) with the intention to secure patients' access to cost-effective equipment and services to keep care home-based rather than institutional.

Cornyn spoke on Tuesday about legislation to reform health care and step up anti-fraud efforts for Medicare. Specter spoke Wednesday on health care reform.
Both senators spoke prior to the AAH group heading to Capitol Hill for meetings with their respective congressional members directly to discuss:
-how to enact the aggressive 13-point Anti-Fraud Legislative Action Plan that focuses on preventing fraud and abuse before it happens in the DME sector
- a plan to stop anti-competitive bidding for DME
- how to reform the oxygen therapy benefit in Medicare in order to ensure accurate payments and quality care as long as patients' medical need continues, and
- how to restore the 9.5 percent cut to the power wheelchair benefit

The AAH represents the homecare community which serves the medical needs of millions of Americans who need therapy requiring DME and HME. Member providers operate in more than 3,000 locations in 50 states.

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