House Introduces Medicare O&P Patient Centered Care Act!

Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA), GT Thompson (R-PA), GK Butterfield (D-NC), and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) have re-introduced the bipartisan Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Patient-Centered Care Act (H.R 1990).  NAAOP strongly supports this legislation along with the organization that took the lead on introduction of this legislation, AOPA, as well as the other members of the O&P Alliance.

The bill is identical to the House version of the bill (H.R. 5262) introduced last year, which means we can build on the awareness and support for the bill from the previous Congress.  The bill would accomplish four key priorities for the orthotic and prosthetic profession.  It would:

1. Distinguish durable medical equipment (DME) from clinical, service-oriented O&P care in the Medicare statute and regulations, leading to recognition of the clinical care O&P practitioners provide.

1. Limit the definition of “off-the-shelf” (or “OTS”) orthotics to devices that truly require only “minimal self-adjustment” by the beneficiary him- or herself. This would help ensure that patients continue to have access to the clinical orthotic services they need.

1. Ban drop-shipping to patients’ homes of custom fit and custom fabricated orthoses and prostheses to prevent fraud and abuse and ensure patient access to clinical O&P care, and

1. Exempt licensed and certified O&P practitioners from OTS competitive bidding, treating them similarly to physicians and therapists by allowing them to provide OTS orthoses to their patients—without a contract—at the competitive bidding rate (not the higher fee schedule amount).

Now we need your help to build support for this legislation.  Please visit NAAOP’s website and access our action page to easily email your Representatives and ask them to cosponsor this bill simply by filling in your contact information and selecting your Representative to send the message to. If you can customize your message to discuss how this bill impacts you, all the better.

Thank you for your continued support of NAAOP and policies to advance the O&P profession!