Tag: Council for Quality Respiratory Care

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has partnered with AAHomecare and the VGM Group to send a one-page letter to CMS urging the agency to finalize the DMEPOS final rule as quickly as possible.  A proposed rule published in October outlined the agency’s plans to make permanent the 50-50 blended reimbursement rates in rural areas.  “In light of the pandemic, it is more important than ever that the Medicare...

WASHINGTON – CMS’s competitive bidding program set the stage for a number of the difficulties that the HME industry is seeing as it tries to meet increased demand for oxygen therapy for COVID-19 patients, say the leaders of Apria Healthcare and Lincare and the Council of Quality Respiratory Care.  The agency may have dropped oxygen from Round 2021, its latest round of bidding, but 10 years since the program’s...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care recognizes November as National COPD Awareness Month by commending CMS for its plans not to award competitive bidding contracts to 13 product categories, including oxygen supplies and equipment, in 2021. If finalized, the proposal would ensure that patients will be able to continue accessing oxygen supplies and equipment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the CQRC says. “We applaud CMS for properly addressing policies that could have threatened...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care commended the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for passing H.R. 8158, a bill that would amend both the Social Security Act and the 1997 Balanced Budget Act to waive the budget neutrality offset for stationary oxygen products. “The continued application of the budget neutrality provision has led to troublingly low rates for oxygen supplies and equipment in rural and suburban areas, which if not addressed, threatens to force some suppliers...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has named Crispin Teufel as chairman of the board. Teufel, CEO of Lincare, succeeds Dan Starck. “I am honored and humbled to serve as the next chairman of the CQRC,” said Teufel. “As we navigate the unprecedented challenges imposed by COVID-19, I look forward to working collaboratively with my industry colleagues to continue delivering high-quality care to patients both during the pandemic and beyond.” The CQRC is a coalition...

I am writing on behalf of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) to highlight how our members—the home oxygen, sleep, and ventilation therapy suppliers and manufacturers-are prepared to help during the COVID-19 emergency when patients diagnosed with the disease have access to the equipment and supplies they need to recover. For us to fully serve these patients, however, we need your help in trying to address some of regulatory restriction that will be a barrier to caring for these...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has asked CMS to pay for home respiratory equipment, supplies and services for patient with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. In a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, the CQRC also asks the agency to reduce paperwork burdens, allowing instead, the certificate of medical necessity, test results confirming a diagnosis and the prescription to be sufficient documentation. Additionally, it asks CMS to: suspend adding non-invasive ventilators from...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma expressing its “serious reservations” with the proposal to include home ventilators in the competitive bidding program. “The CQRC is deeply troubled and confused by the proposal to add three types of ventilation devices, which are used by highly vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries who otherwise could not remain in their homes, to the competitive bidding program before the modified...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Home oxygen therapy has been hit especially hard by competitive bidding, so CMS's plans to retool its program are encouraging, says Dan Starck, chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care.“It's good to see the administration listening to the industry and working with the industry,” he said. “Our goal now is to get it finalized and make sure we have a sustainable long-term process available to us.”The CQRC is a coalition of leading home oxygen...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care this week urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would delay steep cuts to reimbursement for home oxygen.The Patient Access to Durable Medical Equipment Act would reinstate the phase-in period of cuts to soften the blow on suppliers.“It's time for leaders in the House and Senate to work together to enact the critical provisions of the bill,” said Dan Starck, CQRC chairman, in a release. “It remains clear that more time is needed...