Ukiah Home Oxygen Therapy Patients and Physicians Meet with Congressman Mike Thompson to Share Benefits of Quality Home O...(further funding cuts to Medicare's home ...),Health

Date:3/26/2008

further funding cuts to Medicare's home oxygen benefit, which could jeopardize our ability to provide critical patient care services, as well as hindering progress toward more thoughtful benefit reform in the future," said Peter Kelly, President of PPS and Chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC). "Additional cuts in the oxygen benefit are likely to create barriers to quality care for patients and their caregivers, as well as present new challenges for providers who are already struggling with unprecedented recent cutbacks in this benefit."

In addition to addressing concerns regarding changes to the Medicare home oxygen benefit, Pacific Pulmonary Service patients and staff expressed concerns regarding the recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement about projected program reductions tied to Medicare's competitive bidding program. In a statement released by the non-profit Council for Quality Respiratory Care Kelly stated, "Changes stemming from new competitive bidding policies are more dramatic than anticipated, and the breadth of those changes should cause policymakers to carefully and thoughtfully assess the effects this restructuring is having on the health and well being of Medicare's respiratory patients before implementing additional changes."

The home oxygen community is currently braced for great uncertainty due to sweeping policy changes enacted by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, both of which are taking effect during the coming year, and will cut benefits for home oxygen by more than $1.5 billion in 2009 and 2010. These changes will impact nearly 300,000 Americans, or 22 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries who rely on home oxygen for their home-based care.

"Changes to this benefit have the potential to influence quality and continuity of care for our patients, particularly in rural areas," said Bob Snee, Operations Manager. "Many of our pa
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SOURCE Pacific Pulmonary Services Copyright©2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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