We need YOU to educate your representative in Congress about what Medicare is doing to YOUR power wheelchair/scooter benefit.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently issued a series of draft and final policy changes to the coding, coverage and documentation rules for power wheelchairs and scooters. Some of these changes are scheduled to take effect October 25; some are scheduled to be effective January 2006. CMS implementation plan for these separate but related policies is undefined and could mean you might lose your power wheelchair/scooter benefit and become a prisoner in your own home.
As a result of these policy changes:
• Beneficiaries will not have access to power mobility devices that meet their needs.
• Medicare will only pay for a wheelchair that is functional in your home, not outside your home.
• CMS will erect artificial barriers by requiring unrealistic and undefined documentation rules, making it more difficult for you to receive the appropriate mobility device.
• Instead of developing policies that target fraud and abuse by unscrupulous suppliers, CMS would penalize consumers with real mobility limitation.
• CMS announced a new national coverage policy based on functional criteria, which is a step in the right direction. The coding, coverage, and documentation policies issued since then however will prevent you from actually benefiting from the changes.
What can you do?
1. Go to www.rightwheelchair.org to educate yourself about this issue.
2. Call the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121 and tell your representative what Medicare is doing to threaten your independence.
For more information, call Kim Ruff-Wilbert at 202-331-1002.
