Peter Thomas, JD, the National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics (NAAOP) general counsel, commented via an audio bulletin on the NAAOP website about the June 15 release of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) orthotics report. He said the report recommended implementation of competitive bidding for off-the-shelf (OTS) orthotics, however, it largely focused on abuses of the benefit by non-orthotist providers and suggested that orthotists, like physicians, should be able to provide OTS orthotics without having a Medicare competitive bidding contract. The report did not recommend expansion of competitive bidding to all orthotics and prosthetics, a policy that had been considered prior to an O&P Alliance meeting with MEDPAC staff, Thomas said in the bulletin.
Though some of the concerns expressed by NAAOP and its Alliance partners were not heeded in the final report, “NAAOP got its point across, and we were ultimately pleased with the end product,” Thomas said.
The audio bulletin is posted on the NAAOP website.
