Mobility
Powering Up for Change
The power wheelchair market this year has been a confounding blend of success and foreboding. Representatives from six manufacturers characterize sales as "good" and "growing" in 2010, and all agree that market demographics infused with baby boomers who are going to need mobility equipment point to growing demand.
Most of the foreboding is linked to CMS' unwavering mission to press ahead with January 2011 plans to roll out the competitive bidding juggernaut. New bid prices in the first nine cities have been roundly criticized, and the program's ripple effects are the subject of rampant speculation.
"My biggest concern is the train is on its track and it has quite a bit of speed right now," laments Pride Mobility Products' Seth Johnson, vice president of government affairs. "I'm not sure how successful we are going to be in stopping Round 1, but that is our focus. We are also concerned about the expansion of the program beginning early next year in 91 more areas."
The disconnect between Congress and HME providers stems from a fundamental disagreement over what constitutes actual value in a power chair transaction.
"Providers offer a variety of services to clients that many times go unnoticed by funding sources," says Julie Jackson, director of power mobility and seating products for Invacare. "Working closely with therapists to properly identify clients' needs, providing product trials and evaluations, ordering the product, navigating order forms, educating and fitting clients and delivering/servicing the product are all examples."
First-Month Purchase Option
Another point of concern is Section 3136 of the Affordable Care Act, which eliminates the first-month purchase option for standard power wheelchairs, replacing it with a mandatory 13-month rental that will also become effective Jan. 1, 2011. At presss time, a "Dear Colleague" letter distributed in the House of Representatives urged support for a 1-year delay, and a similar document had been circulated in the Senate.
