RAMP: Momentum Builds to Change In-the-Home Restriction

Washington

Pressure is mounting on CMS to modify its regulation requiring mobility equipment obtained by Medicare beneficiaries to be restricted to use in their homes, according to the Restore Access to Mobility Partnership (RAMP) coalition.

In June, a group of 61 members of Congress signed a letter from Reps. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., and Jim Langevin, D-R.I., to HSS Secretary Michael Leavitt asking that the regulation be changed. If CMS decides it can’t be done under the regulatory process, the lawmakers said, they will examine legislative options.

Sens. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., also have gathered colleague signatures for a similar letter sent from the Senate.

“The ‘in-the-home’ restriction acts as an artificial barrier that stands in the way of appropriate wheelchair coverage policy and has far more to do with limiting utilization than it does with any conceivable clinical justification,” said Peter Thomas of the ITEM Coalition, a group of 70 disability and health advocacy organizations also supporting the change.

Some stakeholders had hoped CMS’ new National Coverage Determination for mobility equipment would address the “in-the-home” language, but CMS officials said the policy was not the proper place to tackle the change and that the issue would be better addressed through legislation.