manual wheelchairs

WASHINGTON – Reps. John Larson, D-Conn., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., have re-introduced a bill that would permanently exempt complex rehab manual wheelchairs from Medicare’s competitive bidding program and would stop the agency from applying bid-related payment rates to accessories for those wheelchairs for 18 months.

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives this afternoon handily passed a bill with language that requires CMS to stop applying competitive bidding pricing to accessories for complex rehab manual wheelchairs for 18 months, starting Jan. 1, 2019.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Clinician Task Force (CTF) has given stakeholders more ammunition in their fight to stop CMS from applying competitive bidding pricing to accessories for complex rehab manual wheelchairs.

WASHINGTON – Industry stakeholders fear a Medicare Administrative Contractor is doing an about-face on the home assessment requirement for manual wheelchairs.

LEBANON, Tenn. – Permobil has acquired MAX Mobility, the Nashville, Tenn.-based manufacturer of the SmartDrive power assist device.

MAX Mobility’s most recent release, the SmartDrive MX2+ with PushTracker, works on virtually any manual wheelchair on the market.

WASHINGTON – Complex rehab stakeholders scored a big win when CMS used its authority to stop reimbursement cuts for accessories for complex power wheelchairs, but their job is only half done.

WASHINGTON – CMS has taken away a Medicare beneficiary’s “right to choose,” now that providers aren’t allowed to use K0108 for titanium or heavy duty upgrades for manual wheelchairs, industry stakeholders say.

WASHINGTON – NCART has formed a work group and developed an issue paper in response to CMS’s decision not to allow separate billing for titanium wheelchair frames and heavy duty upgrades.