The deadline to convince lawmakers to sign a House sign-on letter instructing CMS to not apply bid rates to CRT items has been extended to May 25.
The letter comes from a concern on the part of industry advocates and some lawmakers that CMS will forget Congress’s carving out of CRT from competitive bidding when applying a specific provision of the Cures Act. That provision made 2018 the year for implementation of a policy limiting the federal portion of funding to state Medicaid programs that is attributable to state DME fee for service payments.
“We respectfully submit that this policy, which was designed to create federal budget savings in Medicaid, was never meant to include CRT products,” read the letter, which was introduced by Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Bill Johnson (R-OH). “Congress made this intent clear when it included policy in the same 21st Century Cures Act to protect CRT from competitive bidding, and we ask that you follow congressional intent and protect CRT from payment cuts due to DME competitive bidding pricing, whether in Medicaid or Medicare.”
“Our task is to strengthen their message by getting additional Representatives to sign-on to the letter,” said Donald Clayback, executive director of the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART). “We have until noon next Friday, May 25th to get those signatures and need your help. … Your prompt attention is appreciated. Please let us know when you secure your Congress member’s signature so we can continue to monitor progress.”
To help collect signatures, providers can send an email to their Representative at bit.ly/2k4iy2y and make sure to ask them to follow the instructions to add their signature.
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A copy of the sign-on letter is available at bit.ly/2rQhZ0y.