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October 3, 2006,
On October 2, 2006 CMS published the new Medicare Power Mobility Device fee schedule that will go into effect 11/15/06. The new fee schedule contains drastic reductions running as high as 35% to 40%. And while these will immediately impact Medicare beneficiaries, they will spill over to other third-party payers and create a national access problem. Click here for a copy of the new fee schedule.
Click here for a copy of the fee schedule.
At the risk of stating the obvious, if these reductions are allowed to go into effect they will
have a dramatic negative impact on the equipment and services available to people with disabilities.
Not just for Medicare beneficiaries, but for everyone. And while this is obvious to rehab people, I
guarantee you it is not obvious to those outside the industry. That group includes clinicians,
consumers, CMS and Congress.
The next 40 days will be the most pivotal time in our rehab industry. If you are a rehab person
or someone involved in providing power mobility, you MUST get your referral sources, clinicians
and consumers involved in helping to protect THEIR access. Their voices and actions, combined
with yours, are critical to getting changes made. The message is not about a business or
job...it's about protecting real people's access to appropriate equipment and services.
In this regard, MED is putting together information and tools to help you get the message
out and get people involved on a grassroots level. The tools are only a start. It's up to
each of you, and others within your company, to make this a focus for the upcoming weeks.
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