Thursday, March 28, 2024

Re: On the path to the slaughter house!

William Lifford

Hello Colleagues,

Jan is right… the Draft LCD is really troublesome for our field.

Some of the “bullet points” are:

– The removal of the word “potential” from all the K-Levels
– The “assistive devices” restrictions on K-Level — meaning use of a
walker or crutches = automatic K1, use of a cane = automatic K2, no
assistive devices plus all previous K3 criteria = K3.
– The elimination of the “bilaterals don’t fit neatly into the K-Levels”
wording
– The elimination of elevated vacuum sockets
– The insistence on primitive, barely functional “preparatory”
prostheses covered by one all-inclusive code
– The virtual elimination of many codes
– The prohibition of flexible inner socket code when using a gel liner
– The prohibition of auxiliary suspension systems
– The prohibition of flexible protective outer surface covering, except
in extremely limited cases/situations

There is a comment period that runs through August. Use this email address:
*[email protected] *
to regicter your complaints, suggestions, and comments. Yes, those are
underscores between the words.

Bill Lifford, CP
Progressive O&P, Inc.

On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 8:03 AM, Jan Saunders wrote:

> We only have a very short period of time, a very short walk to the
> slaughter
> house, yet we sit by as we have always done idly and continue to allow this
> to happen To our profession, and to the patients we serve. Yes I am talking
> about the new PROPOSED changes to the LCD¹s, the guideline which CMS first,
> and then every other insurance company in the country will follow. Let¹s
> look at this, If Congress woman Tammy Duckworth, a combat veteran who lost
> both lower extremities was covered by Medicare, which she will be someday,
> uses a cane to ambulate she would not qualify for the components she
> currently has and needs. ACA the largest amputee advocate group has the
> largest list of amputees in the country, yet they stand idly by and do
> nothing to head this change off, instead of being proactive by using their
> power to voice their disgust . By changing the LCD the way they are
> proposed, it will devastate our industry, as it will be devastating to
> 70%-80 % of the patients we serve.
>
> Don¹t you think we as practitioners and business people have insulated our
> patient population long enough? Haven¹t we given them components in the
> past
> where the cost has been coming out of our pockets? It is time to have
> them
> stand up for themselves with our support. There is only one way to stop
> this
> from passing, because if it does pass, you hold some level of
> responsibility for sitting by and not being proactive. Here is what you can
> do NOW! Designate one person in your office for 1 day to call every
> amputee you have ever seen in your office,. Inform them on what is about to
> happen to their benefits thru medicare, and for those not yet covered by
> medicare, private insurance will follow, as they always do when they see
> the money being save thru denial of services and components. If a patient
> uses a cane periodically they will not qualify for any advanced components.
> Don¹t misunderstand I am not advocating they are all K-3¹s, but all of the
> ones who are will loose.
>
> There is only a couple of weeks left for patients to call the news papers,
> Congressmen & women, Senators, State Representatives, any political figure
> who will listen. No political figure wants to have on there record , they
> are against helping the disabled, war veteran who are now covered by the
> VA,
> but will in the future bee covered by medicare. Tell them they must call
> today if we want to get this delayed for more discussion. It would help if
> you had local political figures office numbers available for them to copy
> down.
>
> Do it today or don¹t complain!
>
> Jan A. Saunders, CPO, LPO
>
>
>
>
>
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William Lifford, CP
Progressive O&P, Inc.
1111 Willis Avenue
Albertson, NY 11784
516-338-8585

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