Washington
Legislators from around the country have joined the HME
industry's fight against power mobility reimbursement cuts.
Six representatives from Ohio urged HHS to postpone CMS' new fee
schedule.
“Trying to save dollars at the expense of someone's
quality of life is not good policy,” Reps. Tim Ryan, Ted
Strickland, Dennis Kucinich, Sherrod Brown, Marcy Kaptur and
Stephanie Tubbs wrote in a letter to the agency.
In Pennsylvania, Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum also
asked HHS to postpone the fee schedule.
In South Dakota, the state's entire congressional delegation
sent a letter to HHS and CMS officials saying they were concerned
that many providers in the rural state would not be able to
continue to supply PMDs after the new fee schedule takes
effect.
One of the state's largest providers, WestMed Rehab, said it
will no longer provide power wheelchairs to Medicare beneficiaries
after Nov. 15.
The Rapid City-based HME is the only provider of Medicare-funded
complex rehab technology services for 300 miles in any direction,
according to CEO Tim Pederson.
“At the very least we will need to be extremely selective
about who we choose to service,” he said. “It may be
that the only people who receive these types of services are those
who can afford to pay for them out of pocket.”
