One of the big problems with getting elected officials to pass user friendly laws that involve Medicare wheelchairs is getting the honorables to understand some wheelchair basics.
- Elected officials get a lesson in wheelchairs.
- Being able to tell a complex from a basic wheelchair helps when you're calling the shots.
Getting elected may make you an expert on running a successful campaign but it does nothing to increase your working knowledge of wheelchairs. That knowledge void is considered to be one of the major stumbling blocks in getting good legislation passed. What’s “good” you ask? Good is when all of the players, Medicare wheelchair users, the wheelchair and medical equipment industry, and the tax payers get a fair shake and maximize the bang for the buck and the results for the effort.
That has been tough to do when the vast majority of the honorables are clueless when it comes to wheelchairs. The National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART) recently launched an initiative that hopes to educate the honorables on some wheelchair and industry basics with emphasis on defining what a complex and what a basic wheelchair are. It’s a great thing to know when you’re calling the shots.
The simplistic approach they chose appears to be working. Click here to find out how they are doing it.
Ziggi Landsman
VP of Assistive Technology
United Spinal Association
www.unitedspinal.org
Thanks Ziggi, for bringing this up. One think to get behind is NCART and health care professionals work in defining complex rehab products, so there can be a separate designation for advanced products within Medicare. Home medical equipment, including oxygen, is only about 1% of the Medicare budget so they give it little regard and have been cutting reimbursement and using old outdated criteria, like a wheelchair is for home use only. This is bad because almost all states and insurance companies use Medicare’s coding and guidelines.They have been trying to fit complex and advanced equipment into coding that does not fit, because they have a mental picture of a wheelchair for their grandmother. Advancement in wheelchair technology is almost shut down because Medicare will not pay for products that do not go into codes they pay for. So, we hope that Medicare will have a separate group that will review and evaluate complex rehab equipment that is vitally needed for people with SCI.
Andy, thanks for plugging the details in. Drop by from time to time and keep us updated on this one.