Dear Valued Care Medical Equipment Customer,
Due to revenue shortfalls, the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) was forced to reduce the Oregon State Medicaid budget. On August 1, 2011, the Division of Medical Assistance Programs (DMAP) implemented further reductions to Medicaid Durable Medical Equipment benefits which placed many critical services at approximately 20% below the already severely under reimbursed Medicare fee schedule. Following this reduction, Care Medical & Rehabilitation Equipment made the difficult decision to discontinue providing services to Oregon Medicaid Primary “Open Card” clients.
In keeping with our commitment to being the “Northwest’s Partner In Care”, Care Medical Equipment has decided to reverse its position on providing services to DMAP clients.
Effective January 25, 2012, Care Medical will provide services, with certain limitations, to Open Card Medicaid Primary (DMAP) clients as well as Medicare/DMAP beneficiaries.
Recent fiscal reports to the legislature show that Oregon’s 2011-2013 biennial budget revenues will be approximately $500 Million short of initial projections. Governor Kitzhaber’s office has requested that state departments develop additional 10.5% reduction budgets to determine where to implement further reductions if necessary. The current 2011-2013 Medicaid reduction budget could potentially reduce Oregon’s investment in your home medical equipment benefits by an additional $870,000.
We sincerely encourage you to contact your legislators immediately and ask them to protect your access to essential home medical equipment by repealing these reductions and reinvesting in maintaining your benefits.
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