NRRTS’ Margolis: No Second-Class Care

LAGO VISTA, Texas–Founding board member and past president
Simon Margolis has been named executive director of NRRTS, the
National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers. He
assumed his new duties last week.

As the organization moves forward, Margolis said, particularly
as the industry deals with new mobility policies, codes and
pricing, “the most important thing is to maintain the high level of
expertise and performance and compassion that NRRTS registrants
have for their clients, regardless of how much money we’re getting
paid.

“That’s the key issue if we’re going to continue to serve our
clients as we have because people don’t deserve second-class
care.”

Margolis added that it will be up to individual
service-deliverers to dialog with their companies about maintaining
service levels. “This is not the place to cut,” he said. “We have
to use our smarts and figure out ways to continue to provide
service yet keep costs down.”

As far as a carve-out of complex rehab from competitive bidding,
Margolis said, “we’re going to have to see what kind of support we
can get from the new Democratic majority.” Last year’s Congress
adjourned without any action on a bill that would have excluded the
area from the Medicare bidding program.

However, he added, “this is still a critical issue, and it’s
equally important for the states to see the federal government set
a precedent for carving out rehab so they treat it differently as
well.”

With more than a 30-year career in complex rehab, Margolis most
recently spent seven years as vice president of clinical and
professional development for National Seating & Mobility,
Nashville, Tenn. He is a founding member of NCART, the National
Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology, and a past president
of RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology
Society of North America.

Founded in 1992, NRRTS has more than 800 registrants. The
credential of Certified Rehabilitation Technology Supplier (CRTS)
can be carried only by NRRTS registrants who have passed the
Assistive Technology Supplier (ATS) exam administered by
RESNA.