'Two irons in the fire' for accessories
By HME News Staff
Updated Thu July 11, 2019
WASHINGTON - The Health Subcommittee of the Energy & Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives has approved a bill that would, among other things, stop CMS from applying bid pricing to complex rehab manual wheelchairs for one year.
H.R. 2328, the “Reauthorizing and Extending America's Community Health Act,” would also permanently exclude complex rehab manual wheelchairs from the competitive bidding program.
“It's a positive, as we now have two CRT irons in the fire, which indicates good support to fix our issue,” said Don Clayback, executive director of NCART.
Similar language also passed in the Ways and Means Committee in the House as part of H.R. 3429, the “HEARTS and Rural Relief Act” on June 26.
Now, “the next step will be to see what legislation makes its way to the House floor for a vote,” Clayback said.
H.R. 3429 could be headed for a vote by the full House before the August recess, while H.R. 2328 is headed for a vote by the full Energy & Commerce Committee.
“While this is all good progress, we still need to build co-sponsors on the standalone CRT bill H.R. 2993,” Clayback said.
H.R. 2993, introduced earlier this year by Reps. John Larson, D-Conn., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., would stop CMS from applying bid pricing for 18 months.
Comments