Legislators Join Industry Protest Of Fee Schedule

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.”