Competitive bidding update: All hands on deck

Everyone who has worked so hard to gather support for a bill designed to repeal competitive bidding deserves a big pat on the back, but there's no time for that. The bill's made impressive progress, but there's still work to be done.

The Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America (AMEPA), sent out this email announcement this afternoon:

HR3790, Congressman Kendrick Meek's bill to repeal the DMEPOS bidding program, now has 199 co-sponsors. Including Congressman Meek, the bill has 200 supporters and only 18 more are needed for a majority in the House.

Two hundred down, 18 to go. If your congressmen have not signed onto the bill, you need to contact them ASAP and ask for their support.

Check here to see if your representative has signed on to H.R. 3790. Thank those who have already signed on, and ask for support only from those who have yet to sign onto the bill.

Let's keep the pressure on. If your legislator is not a cosponsor, please take a few minutes to do the following:

1) Look up your U.S. Representative at www.congress.gov
- simply enter your zip code of your home and each office location to find your U.S. Congressman/woman or call 1-202-224-3121 and ask for your legislator by name or zip code.

2) Ask to speak to the Health LA for your home representatives and business representative and explain:

"I am calling to ask the congressman (congresswoman) to co-sponsor HR 3790, a bi-partisan budget neutral repeal of the flawed DMEPOS Bidding Program. This bill will give congress the same savings that the program was projected to give, without unnecessarily eliminating 90% of the local providers and without limiting a patient's access to quality products and timely services. The bid window has already closed for 9 of the largest metropolitan areas, so we need support as quickly as possible."

" The President made it clear but Congress knows, we need to preserve jobs in this nation, not destroy them, needlessly. There are hundreds of thousands of direct DME jobs at stake and a hundred thousand ancillary jobs".

Ask Questions:
"Has the congressman (congresswoman) considered HR-3790?"

"Do you think you can talk to him (her) about it today?"

Explain how important this is and follow-up:

"Thank you. The flawed DMEPOS bidding program will close my business and seriously affect the patients I serve. Can I follow up with you in a few days so I can let my employees and patients know your decision?"

Keep the momentum going. Victory is within reach.

Good luck.

Mike Moran