This is the right move by CMS and I applaud them for decisive action, as well as the industry groups who pushed for this obviously needed change, @aahomecare @VGMGovRelations.

Having said that [thread ] https://twitter.com/gmsheehan/status/1248348414867275781

The fact remains that Medicare was auctioning off ventilator servicing to the lowest bidder - it's not just equipment, it's the services wrapped around it that are so essential to effective care - respiratory therapists, qualified delivery technicians

There are countless professionals involved in the delivery of these products and the ongoing clinical service to the patients and their families - this is all part of what Medicare was auctioning off to the lowest bidder, until today

It took a global pandemic for them to acknowledge how fundamentally flawed the program would be for home ventilation...yet they are still moving ahead and auctioning off PAP therapy and home oxygen therapy, again inclusive of respiratory therapists, to the lowest bidders.

Both of these product/service families are directly indicated for the treatment of #COVID19 and Medicare is continuing to auction them off to the lowest bidder, irregardless of clinical services or overall quality - this is wrong and should be urgently reversed.

There are many other products not directly related to the treatment of #COVID19, but necessary for it - i.e. a home hospital bed.

Medicare's bid program has been thoroughly debunked as a valid auction program by Nobel prize winners and auction experts.

Yet they plowed ahead.

The program caused the closure or bankruptcy of thousands of home medical equipment providers across the US.

It would be nice to have those thousands of providers at the ready right now!

It was a terrible program when it was launched, it remains a terrible program today and it devalues the role clinical professionals play in home care delivery and ongoing patient services.

They are treating these critical services like an eBay auction, selling service rights to low bidders.

Healthcare policy decisions have long term implications on the systems ability to handle demand and deliver quality service.

There is no part of Medicare's failed bid program which will better prepare us as a nation to deal with this situation, no part of it that accounts for the value respiratory therapists deliver to patients at home, and no part of it that should still be standing.

. @cmsgov - take this opportunity to end this broken program and allow the HME market to invest in solutions to help our country's healthcare system moving forward, during and after #COVID19.

HME providers across the US, as well as the clinical, technical and administrative professionals they employ, are leaning into this crisis and delivering outstanding levels of service and care, as they always do.

Finally, thanks to everyone, across all components of healthcare doing such courageous work at such a critical time.

We are continuing to learn how to best respond to this together, and we are seeing in real time how policy decisions of the past are supporting or impeding care.

Keep up the brave work and let's be sure that when this moment passes we don't lose our ability to work together as a healthcare system; patients, providers, payors and the rest of the ecosystem, if we focus on rational policies and sustainable rules we can be great