Stakeholders Push Lawmakers to Exclude High-End Rehab from NCB

WASHINGTON–Both industry and consumer advocacy groups continue
to push for a legislative solution that would carve out high-end
rehab from DME competitive bidding.

This week, letters will be sent to two powerful lawmakers: Sen.
Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
which oversees Medicare and Medicaid; and Rep. Bill Thomas,
chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a chief
architect of the MMA. The letters will be signed by the National
Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology, the National Registry
of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers, the Rehabilitation
Engineering Society of North America and myriad consumer
groups–ranging from the American Association of People with
Disabilities to the Christopher Reeves Paralysis Foundation.

“This is an issue that’s much broader than just a DME provider
issue,” said NCART Executive Director Sharon Hildebrandt. “We
wanted to show [lawmakers] that this issue will affect people with
disabilities” and not just providers.

Competitive bidding of high-end rehab “will have a serious
negative impact on clinical outcomes associated with providing this
technology,” the letter states, adding that the bidding process
will not allow products to “be fit uniquely to the needs of the
individual Medicare beneficiary.”

A similar letter, but with “more of a disability focus,” also
will be sent this week to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt,
Hildebrandt said.

She added that NCART has found support for possible legislation
for the rehab carve-out, but has yet to find a larger legislative
package to attach it to–giving it a better chance of passage.

Mandated by MMA, Medicare competitive bidding for DME will begin
in 10 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas in 2007 and
expand to 80 MSAs in 2009, after which the government has the
authority to implement competitive bidding nationwide.