The Texas Medical Association is asking the American Medical Association (AMA) to follow its lead in adopting policy to improve access to complex rehabilitation technology (CRT) devices.
CRT devices, such as custom powered wheelchairs and adaptive seating, are individually configured primarily for patients who have chronic and disabling conditions. Right now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) classifies those devices as durable medical equipment.
That broad category leaves CRT without its own payment category in Medicare, which “often results in limited access to CRT,” TMA’s Resident and Fellow Section noted in a resolution that TMA’s House of Delegates adopted last month at TexMed 2018. That resolution directs TMA to support CMS reclassifying CRT as its own separate payment category in order to improve access to the devices.
TMA’s delegation to AMA is submitting a similar resolution to the national association’s House of Delegates, which convenes this weekend in Chicago. The draft AMA resolution says the reclassification would “increase [patients’] independence, reduce their overall health care expenses, and appropriately manage their medical needs.”
Houston physical medicine rehabilitation resident Ellia Ciammaichella, DO, a member of TMA’s Resident and Fellow Section, says reclassifying CRT would streamline patients’ access to the devices.
“They need power wheelchairs and custom manual wheelchairs that they can’t get because of multiple hoops they have to jump through, or if they have to go to skilled nursing, they can’t get it until afterwards,” Dr. Ciammaichella said. “But skilled nursing doesn’t have the money or the manpower to provide this type of equipment.”
Although patients eventually get the CRT device they need, “it’s the time lost to get it that causes them problems,” such as reduced quality of life, Dr. Ciammaichella added.
The AMA is the national physician association that uses state and national advocacy to enable a better health care system for patients, physicians, and the country. TMA members are encouraged to join or renew their membership in the AMA to ensure that Texas physicians are well represented in national health care issues.