Dear Mr. Austin:
My name is xxxxxxxxx and I am one of Senator
Casey's staff members who works on healthcare
issues. Thank you for contacting our office about the Ensuring Access to CRT
for People with Disabilities: What Is Complex Rehab Technology? What
Congressional Action Is Needed briefing on April
21, 2016. We will be sending someone to attend this briefing on Senator
Casey's behalf.
Senator Casey
introduced S. 2196, a bill which exempts complex rehabilitation technology
(CRT) accessories from competitive bidding under Medicare on October 22, 2015.
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) of 2008
exempted CRT and accessories, including complex rehabilitative wheelchair
accessories, from the competitive bidding program for Durable Medical Equipment
(DME) under Medicare. In December 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) announced that it intended to apply competitive bid pricing for
standard wheelchair accessories to CRT accessories on January 1, 2016. This
bill would prevent CMS from applying these rates to complex rehabilitative
wheelchair accessories.
S. 2196 was referred
to the Senate Committee on Finance, of which Senator Casey is a member. Please
know that he will continue to support this bill.
On December 18, 2015,
Senator Casey and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio introduced S. 2425, the Patient Access
and Medicare Protection Act along with a bipartisan group of our Senate
colleagues. The legislation will provide for a one year delay in the
application of competitive bid rates to Group 3 power wheelchair accessories
until January 1, 2017. S. 2425 will ensure that these accessories continue to
be paid for under the fee schedule for the next year. This bill was passed by
the Senate and the House of Representatives by Unanimous Consent on December
18, 2015 and was signed into law by President Obama on December 28, 2015.
If you have any
further questions, please feel free to contact me at 202-224-6324.
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Legislative Correspondent
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