For the past several years, industry leaders have talked a lot about engaging consumers to articulate the message of home health care to Congress and the Bush Administration. Last year a handful of providers even reached into their own pockets to help send consumers to a “Washington Fly-in” lobbying event.

That single experience should have left an indelible image in the minds of everyone who participated: Consumers get the home health care message across to Congressional members and their staffs in a way that providers and paid lobbyists cannot.

But like any meaningful relationship, it must be a two-way street. If the industry expects consumers to support it, it must, in turn, adopt the consumer agenda as its own.

On September 3, 200 people with disabilities gathered at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and set off on a 14-day, 144-mile journey to the US Capitol to educate Congress on the issue at the very top of the consumer agenda: Passage of the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Support Act or MiCASSA. The march ended on September 17 with a large rally at the Capitol.

This should have been seen as a red-letter day for every HME services provider. The rally was a tremendous opportunity to turn our words into action. But with a few notable exceptions, the industry was AWOL.

Invacare donated money to help defray the expenses of the march. Three rehab providers sponsored individual participants in the march, and Gary Gilberti, president of Chesapeake Rehab Equipment, Baltimore, provided technical services and repairs along the entire route from Philadelphia to Washington. But as 5,000 of the consumers we want to take up our cause as their own gathered in the shadow of the Capitol, only one or two representatives of the HME industry were present.

When MiCASSA passes, Medicaid will be required to cover the services of personal care assistants who will help people with significant disabilities move from nursing homes and institutions into their own homes in the community. This legislation is a natural follow-up to the Americans with Disabilities Act and is made necessary by a Supreme Court decision in the case of Olmstead vs the State of Georgia. The Court was unambiguous in its decision: People with disabilities have an absolute right to live in the least restrictive environment and the states have a responsibility to provide the services needed to support them. It also said that financial considerations are not justification for keeping people from community living options.

If you need a more self-serving rationale for supporting actions like the “March on Washington” consider this: MiCASSA and implementation of the Olmstead decision will transform tens of thousands of “patients” into “new customers” who need the goods and services you provide everyday.

Ironically, the same members of Congress that the industry cannot get face-to-face appointments with streamed out of the Capitol to voice their support for the legislation the participants in the march are pushing. In fact, the event had such profound impact that MiCASSA has more cosponsors than the number of votes it needs to pass.

One can only imagine the impact on the industry’s top issue would have been if the chants of the assembled consumers included “Preserve our choice. Say no to competitive bidding.”

Consumers could put a face on our industry and, if done cooperatively, consumers could create arguments that would kill competitive bidding and draconian price freezes. But we missed the opportunity on September 17 and we cannot see anything to indicate that the HME services industry acknowledges the strength of the voices of consumers. Moreover, there is no evidence that industry leaders are prepared to participate the next time an opportunity like the “March on Washington” comes around.

The kind of trusting relationship that will bring consumers to the point when they will actively include our issues on their agenda takes years to build. The first step in that direction is to actively and consistently include their issues at the top of our industry’s agenda. The question is, is the industry willing to add MiCASSA and other consumer issues to the top of our agenda today and be present in sufficient numbers at the next “March on Washington” to deserve the support of its customers?

Cara C. Bachenheimer, JD, is vice president of government relations for Invacare Corp, Elyria, Ohio. David T. Williams is a consultant for political and legislative strategy.