09/30/2024

Carbon Fiber/Titanium Wheelchair Upgrade Legislation S.5154 Introduced in US Senate

Ask Your Legislators to Support Senate and House Bills

The American Association for Homecare released an Alert last week announcing that Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced legislation this week that would improve access to titanium and carbon fiber wheelchairs for Medicare beneficiaries. The new bill, S.5154 creates two new HCPCS codes for Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) manual wheelchairs and allows for an upgrade within a code. See bill language here.

S.5154 is a Senate companion bill similar to House legislation, HR 5371. The timing of the Senate bill's introduction was ideal for mobility stakeholders and disability advocates coming on the heels of AAHomecare’s Sept. 10 CRT-focused Capitol Hill fly-in and the NCART and VGM’s DC fly-in that took place last week.

Action needed by CRT advocates!

• Gain support for S.5154 – Please reach out to Ohio’s US Senators to ask that they co-sponsor S.5154. For Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office, contact Legislative Assistant Kimberly Lattimore at Kimberly_lattimore@brown.senate.gov or call the Senator’s DC office at 202-224-2315. For Sen. JD Vance’s office, contact Legislative Assistant Robert Orr at robert_orr@vance.senate.gov or call the Senator’s DC office at 202-224-3353.
• Continue the push for HR 5371 – We urge members to continue working to obtain cosponsors for HR 5371. It’s important to gain support for both the House and Senate bills through the end of the year. Click here for a current list of Ohio's Congressional healthcare staff and their contact information. There are currently 8 co-sponsors on the House bill including Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) who signed on this week.
• Advocacy resources – AAHomecare has messaging tools and guidance for reaching out to Capitol Hill on these bills at www.aahomecare.org/CRT-Advocacy. We urge you to take immediate action to reinforce the face-to-face advocacy CRT leaders have made throughout September in meetings on Capitol Hill. Check out NCART resources here.
• Action strategy – While direct contact with Senators’ and Representative’s healthcare staff makes the strongest impression, you can also send a pre-drafted message supporting these bills using AAH Voter Voice advocacy tool. Please edit the letter there to include your perspectives on how increasing access to titanium and carbon fiber wheelchairs will improve the lives of the patients you serve.

** Program Note! ** Don’t miss the presentation by Cara Bachenheimer, Esq. (Brown & Fortunato) and Jay Witter (AAHomecare) at OAMES 2024 Annual Meeting & Exhibition for all the latest on national industry issues and activities including legislation in Congress and Medicare initiatives by CMS.

If you have any questions about the federal CRT legislative efforts, contact OAMES executive director Heidi Moss.