The Campaign to Shape the Next Round of the CBP Continues Past the Comment Period
The comment period has closed for the 2026 DMEPOS/Home Health Proposed Rule. AAHomecare and other HME stakeholders are now engaging advocacy work to reach key decision makers in the Administration. We need to make sure policymakers understand the stakes for our industry and the potential impacts throughout the healthcare infrastructure.
If the bidding program starts up again using the flawed framework and expanded product mix from the Proposed Rule, the impact on our industry could be felt for a decade or more.
See more about AAHomecare's continued advocacy aimed at preventing several problematic proposals for restarting the bidding program from taking effect and how you can be a part of this campaign.
See our 2026 DMEPOS/HH Proposed Rule resource page to find AAHomecare's comments and other information about provisions in the proposed rule.
Grassroots Action Needed
Ask Your Senators & Representatives to Weigh in on CB Program.
Over the next two weeks, we encourage HME companies of all sizes to reach out to their Members of Congress and ask that they weigh in with CMS on the bidding program. This outreach will help amplify our messages in direct meetings with the Administration in recent weeks (including more this week) and continue to create awareness and urgency on the need to pause implementation of the DME component of the Proposed Rule.
Messages for Your Legislators
- Please reach out to CMS to pause consideration of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding provisions included in the CY 2026 proposed rule to prevent irreversible harm to suppliers and Medicare beneficiary access.
- The Proposed Rule removes important guardrails established during the previous Trump Administration and adds new product categories, including ostomy suppliers and diabetes products that are not appropriate for the program.
- Include your own perspectives on how provisions in the Proposed Rule will impact your company and patients.
Special Messaging for Small Businesses
Outreach from small HME suppliers is especially valuable now. Please add these messages to your emails to Congress if applicable:
- The Proposed Rule will create especially severe financial and operational strain for small suppliers like [name of company].
- CMS needs to pause implementation of the Proposed Rule to conduct meaningful analysis of the rule’s impact on small DMEPOS suppliers.
- The Regulatory Flexibility Act strictly requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their regulations on small businesses and other small entities. CMS analyzed impacts on small Home Health agencies in the Proposed Rule but failed to include any analysis on effects for DMEPOS suppliers.
- You can include this fact sheet on DMEPOS small business impacts in the proposed rule in emails to your Senators and Representatives.
Who to Contact
Please email your legislators’ staffer who handles healthcare issues asking that they reach out to CMS on the Proposed Rule.
A pre-drafted Voter Voice message highlighting the small business impacts is also available here. You are encouraged to edit the message to include your own perspectives and experiences.
Support the Campaign
AAHomecare and HME stakeholders have pivoted to the second phase of our efforts to address CMS’ plans to restart the Competitive Bidding program. Our campaign over the next several months aimed at preventing several problematic proposals for restarting the bidding program from taking effect. The Association has budgeted more than $3 million for this campaign, to be drawn from Association reserves and new fundraising efforts from the DME industry. Already, our partners at VGM and 21 other leading AAH members have pledged more than $750,000 to the effort.
Your support will go toward funding additional lobbying with strong connections to the Administration that can enable us to reach top-level decision makers on this issue. We’ll also be fostering strategic engagement with Capitol Hill allies to bolster our influence with the Administration, as well as polling, media relations, and grassroots mobilization to further support this work as applicable.
You or your company can donate by credit card here, or you can contact Sue Mairena at suem@aahomecare.org to make a pledge and receive an invoice. [Note: dollar figure at the credit card link represents payments by credit card so far only.]
Campaign Elements
The campaign is focused on delivering a strong message to the most influential voices in the White House, CMS, the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and other important players in this process. Our work positions AAHomecare and the HME community as a constructive partner in improving access to care while continuing to reduce abuse of the Medicare DME benefit by criminal elements from outside our industry.
Elements of this campaign will include:
• Engaging the Administration on changes to the DMEPOS rule to make competitive bidding sustainable, including the possibility of stopping or delaying the final rule,
including immediate meetings with influential/top-level White House staff.
• Explaining harms to patients, suppliers, and other healthcare stakeholders associated with the widespread implementation of the bidding program.
• Highlighting our industry’s constructive partnership with the Trump Administration throughout its first term, including reforms that strengthened both program
integrity and patient access.
• Strategic engagement with Capitol Hill allies to reinforce our work to influence the Administration.
• Polling, media relations, and grassroots mobilization to further support the campaign where applicable.
Capitol Hill Messaging: See the new Issue Brief we are using in Capitol Hill meetings to see some of the specific issues/problems with the Proposed Rule.
For More Information
Contact Gordon Barnes, AAHomecare Senior Director of Communications with your questions or for other assistance -- gordonb@aahomecare.org.