CALL TO ACTION!
Contact Your Senators and Urge Them to Cosponsor S. 829 The Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Improvement Act
NAAOP Needs Your Help Convincing Your Senators to Cosponsor S. 829. We urge you to take the following steps as soon as possible:
Go to www.NAAOP.org and click on the Congressional Legislative Action Center. Click on the tab for S. 829/H.R 1530.
Follow the steps outlined on the website. Take each template letter provided to the Senate and the House and customize them to your liking.
When you hit “send,” your two Senators and Congressman will receive tailored email messages urging them to cosponsor S. 829 and H.R. 1530.
Then, if you are willing, contact your two Senate offices by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask for each of your two Senator offices and speak (or leave a message) with health care staff urging cosponsorship of S. 829.
The Medicare O&P Improvement Act includes important legislative proposals that would:
Recognize that the prosthetist’s/orthotist’s notes are considered part of the medical record
Separates DME from O&P in federal regulations
Directs CMS to fully implement Medicare law requiring O&P qualifications in order to be reimbursed by the program for custom O&P care
Clarifies the meaning of “off-the-shelf” orthotics to restore Congressional intent, and
Mandates that HHS refine its data on O&P audits and appeals to better track reversal rates and other important information throughout the appeals process.
Action in the Senate is the most pressing. The Senate Finance Committee recently announced that they are interested in passing non-controversial, bipartisan bills that are in the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, have been considered by the Committee and cost little or nothing. Those criteria precisely describe the Medicare O&P Improvement Act.
Former Senator Bob Kerrey’s involvement in this issue did not stop with the AOPA Policy Forum. He continues to actively volunteer his time, along with key AOPA and other O&P leaders, to get this bill passed into law.
You can do your part as an NAAOP member by participating in this process. Now is the time to help improve the O&P profession! Thank you.