National Health and Advocacy Organizations Call on Congress to Include Life-Changing Oxygen Reform in End-of-Year Package

Today, 27 leading patient, provider and professional organizations sent a letter to Congress to include the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act (H.R. 2902/S.1406) in an end-of-year legislative package. The bipartisan legislation would ensure that Medicare beneficiaries who need supplemental oxygen can access the correct type and levels of oxygen needed to live independent and full lives. 

The organizations, which are listed below, released the following statement:

“The Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act is critical to ensuring quality of life for the more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. with serious lung and heart disease who rely on supplemental oxygen. Currently, they face significant health risks because they do not have access to the appropriate supplemental oxygen equipment and services to keep their organs functioning properly. The SOAR Act must be included in an end-of-year legislative package. Further delay will result in more patients losing access to medically necessary oxygen and related services.

“The SOAR Act addresses long-standing barriers to access in several critical ways. It would lock in savings by removing oxygen services and equipment from the competitive bidding reimbursement program (CBP); create a new reimbursement system to ensure everyone who needs supplemental oxygen can get the kind and amount they need; ensure people who need respiratory therapy services can access them; and establish an oxygen user’s bill of rights. It would also protect against fraud and abuse by mandating standardized documentation requirements.

“While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has engaged in rulemaking for the CBP, the final rule does not address any of the issues the SOAR Act seeks to resolve. Congressional action remains the most prudent path to restoring reliable access to liquid oxygen and ensuring patients receive the appropriate modality of supplemental oxygen they need to breathe and live independent and full lives.

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

“We urge Congress to include the SOAR Act in an end-of-year package. These patients cannot wait.”

Read the full letter here.

Earlier this year, more than 30 health and medical organizations sent a letter to Congress urging them to support the SOAR Act. Read the full letter here.

Academy of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Physical Therapy
Alpha-1 Foundation
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
American Association for Respiratory Care
American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
American College of Chest Physicians
American Lung Association
American Physical Therapy Association
American Thoracic Society
ARDS Alliance, Inc.
Children’s Interstitial and Diffuse Lung Disease (chILD) Foundation
COPD Foundation
Council for Quality Respiratory Care
Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Dorney-Koppel Foundation
Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research 
National Scleroderma Foundation
NTM Info & Research, Inc.
Patients Rising
Pulmonary Fibrosis Warriors
Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation
Pulmonary Hypertension Association
Respiratory Health Association
Running On Air
TSC Alliance
Wescoe Foundation for Pulmonary Fibrosis