WASHINGTON -- The National Coalition for Assistive Rehab Technology has collected 1,200 letters urging U.S. representatives to exempt rehab and assistive technology from Medicare's competitive bidding program scheduled to begin in 2007. "We want Congress to know that this is much bigger than just the self interest of suppliers and manufacturers," NCART Executive Director Sharon Hildebrandt said last month. "We have a lot of clinicians who have sent letters." NCART will sort the letters by congressional district and distribute them to the appropriate representative. Senators will receive copies of the letters. Because high-end rehab is customized to the unique needs of individual patients, there is no way it could be bid competitively, contends NCART.
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