The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) continues to call for participants to answer surveys related to how home medical equipment provision has been impacted by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) policies.
Three types of surveys – for case managers/discharge planners, patients, and providers — are available to complete.
The surveys ask about difficulties in accessing home medical equipment (HME), such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, diabetic supplies, sleep apnea treatments and home oxygen. Questions ask patients if they’ve been unable to be discharged from hospitals due to lack of necessary HME at home, or if they’ve experienced delays in receiving HME in the last year.
The case manager/discharge planner survey asks if the respondents have experienced difficulties in finding HME suppliers willing to serve new Medicare patients, or difficulty finding local suppliers to provide equipment and services.
Providers answering the survey are asked if the Medicare beneficiaries they serve have reported having more difficulty accessing HME under Medicare’s competitive bidding program; whether their companies have reduced their service areas or declined to take on new Medicare beneficiaries; and if their companies have closed some of their offices or are planning to shut down entirely.
AAHomecare Chairman Steve Ackerman and CEO/President Tom Ryan have shared responses received thus far with CMS personnel, the association said. AAHomecare said the survey “was initiated in response to requests from regulatory policymakers and members of Congress looking for more information on Medicare beneficiary access to HME to help inform their work on improving the bidding program and providing a measure of relief to rural/non-bid providers. CMS has asked us to share more results with them next week, and it is clear that additional input will strengthen and improve the report’s findings and credibility.”
While the AAHomecare announcement said response totals for all three categories “significantly surpassed our original targets,” the association is calling for more survey participants to provide additional information to CMS.
To access the Case Manager/Discharge Planner survey, click HERE.
For the Patient survey, click HERE.
For the Provider survey, click HERE.
