[acbny-l] Fw: MEDICARE NEWS!
- From: "Becky and Jim Barnes" <beckyb@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ACB NY list" <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 20:29:31 -0500
Message Thought this might be of interest
----- Original Message -----
From: Becky Barnes
To: 'beckyb@xxxxxxxxxx'
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 2:52 PM
Subject: FW: MEDICARE NEWS!
-----Original Message-----
From: Orientation and Mobility [mailto:OANDM@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Lorraine Lidoff
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 1:44 PM
To: OANDM@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: MEDICARE NEWS!
Importance: High
We are pleased to announce a two-pronged victory for our vision rehabilitation
services provisions: The Medicare bill just passed by Congress legislates a
one-year study to produce recommendations for legislative or administrative
action "providing for payment for vision rehabilitation services furnished by
vision rehabilitation professionals" by January 1, 2005. The study will also
specifically address the obstacle which blocked coverage at this time: the lack
of state licensure for vision rehabilitation professionals.
At the same time, two important provisions in the still-pending Senate Omnibus
Appropriations bill complement this achievement:
1) The Omnibus bill conference report establishes a 5-year demonstration
project, commencing July 1, 2004, to provide national coverage for vision
rehabilitation services, which includes services provided by vision
rehabilitation professionals, and
2) It requires the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to
develop policy recommendations by January 2005 that will allow vision
rehabilitation professionals to provide services in patients' homes and
environs.
What does this mean for coverage of vision rehabilitation services and the work
performed by vision rehabilitation professionals?
* CMS is directed to spend $2 million in the coming year to get national
coverage of vision rehabilitation services, including those provided in the
home by vision rehabilitation professionals under general supervision, "up and
running."
* Meanwhile, CMS will be examining problems and issues that have proven to be
stumbling blocks for our profession to date, namely: the small number of vision
rehabilitation professionals practicing nationwide, which has precluded
national licensure.
* The National Vision Rehabilitation Cooperative and other interested
organizations are specifically named as entities with which CMS must consult
while the study is being conducted;
* Once the study is completed, we will continue with the 5-year demonstration
project while also seeking Congressional approval to adopt final statutory
language to establish these services on a permanent basis after the
demonstration.
We have crested a milestone hurdle for our field in several ways. For the first
time in history, vision rehabilitation professionals, defined as orientation
and mobility specialists, rehabilitation teachers and low vision therapists,
are explicitly named in the Medicare statute.
In addition, when taken together, the study and the demonstration project
establish vision rehabilitation services provided by vision rehabilitation
professionals as valuable for Medicare beneficiaries and provide us with an
outstanding opportunity to gain our full goal of permanent Medicare coverage
for these services.
The entire field of vision rehabilitation needs to strategize and take action
now to meet the challenges involved in assuring successful outcomes for these
groundbreaking initiatives.
Lorraine Lidoff
National Vision Rehabilitation Cooperative
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