VGM Government Relations and the American Association for Homecare are calling on providers to convince their lawmakers to add their signatures to a Congressional sign-on letter insisting that CMS permanently remove accessories for manual CRT chairs from competitive bidding.
Introduced by Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the letter aims to stave off what would likely be considerable reimbursement cuts for those items as early as Round 2021. Furthermore, the removal of those accessories would create policy consistency given that accessories for power CRT chairs were already removed from competitive bidding, as was the chairs themselves.
“Without action, manual CRT accessories could see rate reductions as early as July 2021,” AAHomecare noted in a public statement. “Mobility stakeholders should reach out to their representatives, asking them to join the sign-on letter.”
“We need you to reach out to your members of Congress today and ask that they show their support of this by adding their name to the letter,” VGM Government Relations stated. “… Complex wheelchairs and accessories are used by people with significant disabilities, including spinal cord injury, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, and other serious conditions. These individually configured mobility and seating systems allow this small group of beneficiaries, representing just 7 percent of all Medicare manual wheelchair users, to manage their medical needs and fully participate in their lives.”
The deadline to collect signatures is Aug. 31. VGM has set up a web page to help providers with their outreach, and AAHomecare has collected a variety of talking points on the issue.
