(Raleigh, N.C.) North Carolina’s leader in home medical equipment advocacy and education, NCAMES, has released an official statement in support of the Medicare Fraud Enforcement and Prevention Act of 2010. The new legislation, H.R. 5044, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and several other lawmakers to stop criminal activity in the Medicare system before it starts.

The bill would crack down on distribution of Medicare patient numbers; add a pilot project to examine a use of biometric technologies to verify physician visits; and direct the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study Medicare contractors, including recovery audit contractors, and report back to Congress with recommendations for legislation and administrative action.

Statement from NCAMES Executive Director Beth Bowen:

“Addressing criminal behavior before it affects seniors and patients-in-need benefits everyone with a stake in the Medicare system, including taxpayers and home medical equipment providers. Getting tough on criminals is much more effective than rationing access to home health care through restrictive Medicare bidding rules, which is not stopping criminals from bilking the system and is threatening the livelihood of hundreds of reliable HME service providers in North Carolina. It’s time the government takes responsibility for policing their own program rather than trying to shut-down honest, hardworking small businesses and harm patient access and patient choice.”

Introduced on April 15, H.R. 5044 reflects many of the 13 points contained within an Anti-Fraud Legislative Plan proposed by the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare), a national trade association representing thousands of member companies across all 50 states. NCAMES recently announced its support of the AAHomecare plan as part of its public education campaign to ensure patient access to quality care in North Carolina, which includes driving support for another piece of pro-patient, pro-business legislation, H.R. 3790.

H.R. 3790 is new legislation to correct a Federal Medicare bidding program implemented in late 2009. Unless H.R. 3790 is passed in the next few months, over 500 home medical equipment businesses in North Carolina face the prospect of being blocked from servicing patients who use Medicare to pay for their equipment, forcing most of these companies to close their doors. As of this press release, H.R. 3790 has 200 signatures in the U.S. Congress and is supported by all but four of North Carolinas delegates to the U.S. House or Representatives.

For more information on NCAMES and H.R. 3790, visit www.ncames.org.

With close to 300 member companies and growing, the North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services (NCAMES) is the statewide leader in preserving access to safe, affordable, and therapeutic home medical equipment. We provide advocacy and education to home medical equipment (HME) providers statewide dedicated to helping North Carolinas growing senior population and patients of all ages gain more mobility and experience a high quality of life in the comfort and privacy of their own homes. NCAMES was instrumental in passing the nations first HME licensure law which has been working to ensure quality home health care since 1995, and fully supports pending legislation H.R. 3790 to continue HME access for patients in need. For more information, visit www.ncames.org or call (919)-387-1221.
 
For more information, please visit: www.ncames.org.