MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
Ensuring Access to Telehealth for CRT During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve gotten used to doing a lot of things from home. One positive of the pandemic is that it’s brought telehealth to the forefront.
Illustration credit: ©IStock.com/ma_rish
While telehealth isn’t new, Public Health Emergency (PHE) authorizations during the pandemic expanded the availability of telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries and others. This included authorizing physical and occupational therapists as telehealth services practitioners and making some billing codes used by physical and occupational therapists billable as telehealth services. The National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART) and the CRT Remote Service Consortium are currently petitioning the federal government to pass legislation to make those authorizations permanent. “These actions are needed to improve access, diagnosis, interventions, and outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with significant disabilities who require CRT wheelchairs and other CRT items,” stated Donald E. Clayback, NCART Executive Director, in a letter to Congress.
Breaking Barriers A permanent authorization would help break down barriers to care, including: • Limited access to qualified practitioners that require patients to travel long distances in order to meet with clinicians with the necessary expertise; • Transportation challenges; • Threat of exposure to viruses or other health risks for individuals with compromised or weakened immune systems, respiratory difficulties and comorbidities; and • Physical challenges, such as anxiety, fatigue and pain exacerbated by long travel times, lengthy evaluations, equipment trials and more.
Take Action In March 2021, the Expanded Telehealth Act (H.R. 2168) was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill has gained bipartisan support, but has not moved out of committee. The House legislation closely aligns with a similar bill introduced in the Senate in early November 2021. The Expanded Telehealth Access Act (S.3193) will expand reimbursement for telehealth services to physical therapists, audiologists, occupational therapists and speech language pathologists. Unless Congress acts to pass this legislation, access to these CRT services via telehealth will end when the PHE declaration expires. Make your voice heard by emailing your Members of Congress by visiting protectmymobility.org. Let’s Get Moving | 9
