The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to a section of a proposed rule that would give states increased flexibility in defining essential health benefits (EHB) for purposes of establishing benchmark plans required by the Affordable Care Act. Allowing states to “‘pick and choose’ the benefit packages…is completely inconsistent and incompatible with the intent of the Affordable Care Act and will eliminate any consistency as to which benefits are available to patients under the essential health benefit provisions of the act,” wrote Thomas F. Fise, JD, AOPA’s executive director, in the comments.
The proposed rule, “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2019,” was published November 2 in the Federal Register.
“Our comments reflected AOPA’s consistent position that orthoses and prostheses must remain essential health benefits and any action by CMS that restricts or reduces access to O&P services is not in the best interest of quality patient care,” according to AOPA’s announcement.
To read the comments, visit AOPA’s website at www.aopanet.org.
