Ask Your Representative to Cosponsor the SOAR Act

Since 2011, supplemental oxygen has been part of Medicare’s DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, resulting in significant decreases in payments for oxygen equipment and supplies. While we appreciate that payment reductions have produced Medicare savings, they have come at the unacceptable cost of access to medicallynecessary oxygen equipment, supplies, and services for people who require supplemental oxygen. Given the inadequate Medicare reimbursement rates, many individuals who require supplemental oxygen do not receive the types of oxygen systems that are needed. The Medicare program also does not reimburse for the services of respiratory therapists, which are often necessary – especially when they are given a new oxygen prescription – to support individuals' care. Due to inadequate oxygen access and services, these individuals are at high risk for worsening health, avoidable emergency room visits, and hospitalizations.

The SOAR Act would remove all oxygen services and equipment from the competitive bidding reimbursement system and create a new reimbursement system for this benefit. It will add a payment for respiratory therapy services to ensure individuals who use supplemental oxygen have the necessary training on using oxygen, establish an oxygen users' bill of rights, and establish national standardized documentation requirements that rely on a template rather than prescriber medical records.

Individuals with the most significant oxygen needs cannot use small, portable oxygen concentrators (known as POCs) because they do not provide high flow rates. Instead, these people are currently dependent on large tanks of compressed, gaseous oxygen. These large tanks of oxygen are heavy, bulky, and may provide only a couple of hours of oxygen at a time. People who have any sort of mobility issues struggle to get around with even one of these large tanks. Consequently, those individuals who need high flow rates often end up effectively housebound.

The SOAR Act would bring significant health and well-being benefits to the 1.5 million individuals living with COPD, heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, people awaiting lung transplants and other advanced respiratory diseases who rely on supplemental oxygen. Oxygen therapy can decrease mortality, reduce shortness of breath, and increase exercise capacity.