Earlier in September, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed legislation introduced by Rep. McMorris Rodgers that would waive the budget neutrality requirements for changes to Medicare reimbursement for supplemental oxygen.  As documented by several patient and provider surveys, the Medicare competitive bidding program is causing significant access problems for supplemental oxygen, particularly high-flow and portable oxygen systems.  Reimbursement cuts driven by the Medicare competitive bidding program have made liquid oxygen systems nearly impossible to get for many Medicare beneficiaries. 

CMS recognized this problem and raised reimbursement rates, slightly, to address the problems with access to liquid oxygen.  However, because Congress had previously mandated that all payment changes for Medicare supplemental oxygen be budget neutral, CMS was forced to offset increase in liquid oxygen payments with cuts to other oxygen systems.

The legislation introduced by Rep. McMorris Rodgers would waive the budget neutrality requirement, allowing CMS to more appropriately set reimbursement rates for all types of supplemental oxygen systems and hopefully fix Medicare beneficiary access to a wide range of oxygen systems.  The ATS supports this bill and is working with our partners in the patient and provider community to advance this legislation through Congress.