Final Rule Delay Offers Opportunity for Continued Advocacy
CMS has not yet released the 2026 DMEPOS/Home Health Final Rule, which was widely expected to come out by October 31.
As a result, DME stakeholders have an extended opportunity to reach out to Capitol Hill and ask them to weigh in with CMS and the Administration on the CBP and the Proposed Rule and amplify our our lobbying team's continued enagament with these decision makers.
Please reach out this week to healthcare staffers for your Representative and Senators with this basic message:
I am asking your office to reach out to your contacts at CMS and/or the Administration to request that CMS withdraw or delay the DME Medicare Competitive Bidding Program provisions in the
DMEPOS/Home Health Proposed Rule and re-engage with industry, patient, and clinical stakeholders to develop a better framework for the program. CMS has not yet shared a Final Rule, and
we believe that strong and timely Congressional outreach can convince the Agency to pause the rule and work on an approach that protects patient access to high-quality DME products and
related services.
You are encouraged to rephrase that message and add your own perspectives as you see fit - and you can also use these resources for messaging ideas and/or to include in your emails to
Congressional staff:
- DME Stakeholder Letter to CMS Administrator Oz signed by 600+ companies and organizations.
- Small Business CBP Impacts Fact Sheet
- Proposed Rule/CBP Issue Brief
A new pre-drafted Voter Voice message is also available to share with any of your colleagues
or peers who would like to add their voice to the effort.
Email Gordon Barnes at gordonb@aahomecare.org for contact info for your legislators’ healthcare staffers, assistance in developing your message, or for a PDF attachment for any
of these resources.
The Final Rule could be released at any time -- so please take action today. Thank you for your advocacy!
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.