A Call to Action
By Leonard, Jeff; New Mobility, Vol. 21, No. 202, Supplement, p. 8Publication Date: July 2010
Article discusses legislative issues regarding the funding of durable medical equipment (DME) and offers advice to users of equipment such as wheelchairs in becoming active advocators for legislative change that will improve DME quality and delivery. The issues under consideration are (1) competitive bidding, a Medicare program dividing DME into categories such as manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs, and oxygen equipment; vendors are allowed to bid on a certain number of those, resulting in a reduced number of providers to choose from and often a need to get components of a mobility system from different vendors; and (2) the establishment of a new and separate Medicare benefit category for complex rehab products, defined as products such as seating systems that need to be fitted to the user’s unique medical needs. The article lists proactive ways a user of DME can promote these legislative changes, including joining Users First Alliance (http://www.usersfirst.org/), learning more about advocacy at http://www.spinalcordadvocates.org, finding the websites of their representatives, and e-mailing the U.S. representative and senators as well as state legislators, sharing with them a personal anecdote about how equipment affects the user’s health and quality of life.
Published by: No Limits Communications Inc. (Website:http://www.newmobility.com)
