Fw: Since you asked!!!

Tony Barr

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Title:

Fw: Since you asked!!!

Creator:

Tony Barr

Text:

> The Barr Foundation
>
> a non-profit organization dedicated to the amputee Telephone 561-394-6514
>
> Fax
> 561-391-7601
>
> E-mail: <Email Address Redacted>
> Anthony T. Barr, Director
> 136 Northeast Olive Way
> Boca Raton, FL 33432
>
> March 26, 1998
>
>
>
> Re: Request for Position Statement in favor of: Establishing Federal
> Standards for Practitioners of Custom
> Orthotic and Prosthetic Devices.
>
> Dear Mr. Van Hook and Mr. Gorski,
>
> I would like to participate in the historic first by making the following
> suggestion to both the executive
> directors of Academy and AOPA in hopes of the two orgainizations uniting for a
> very crucial common goal.
>
> The Barr Foundation is requesting your support for O&P patient advocacy and
> for support for quality
> orthotic and prosthetic care by approving a position statement (sample
> enclosed).
>
> The following conclusions were determined by the Department of Health and
> Human Services/ Office of
> Inspector General, October 1997 report.
>
> (1) At Least Nineteen Percent of Orthotics Provided are Medically Unnecessary
> (2) Durable Medical Equipment Companies are More Likely than Orthotists to
> Supply Questionable
> Orthotics
> (3) Over Two-thirds of the Orthotics Billings in Nursing Facilities are
> Questionable
> (4) The Billing Controls of the Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carriers
> are Limited
>
> The following announcement was recently made by the HCFA conference on fraud,
> waste and abuse.
>
> Medicare alone saved more than $7.5 billion through anti-fraud and abuse
> efforts in fiscal 1997, and with
> its law enforcement partners returned another $1 billion to the Medicare Trust
> Fund. Efforts of the highly
> successful Operation Restore Trust anti-fraud program identified $23 in money
> owed back to the Trust
> Fund for every $1 spent on fraud detection and recoveries. Lessons learned in
> that pilot project are now
> being applied nationwide.
>
> Attached is a draft concept paper and summary outlining a proposal to help
> eliminate healthcare fraud and
> abuse and protect consumers of orthotic and prosthetic services from providers
> who lack appropriate
> education and training. It requires the implementation of Federal Standards
> that orthotists and prosthetists
> must meet in order to be reimbursed under the Medicaid program for customized
> orthotic and prosthetic
> devices. This initiative builds on recent efforts of a small group of states
> that have enacted licensure for
> O&P practitioners.
>
> We would appreciate your endorsement via written position statement on your
> letterhead with the similar
> format that I have enclosed. Please forward this to me and carbon copy U.S.
> Congressman Robert Wexler
> who is co-sponsoring the legislation.
>
> As always, the Barr Foundation looks forward to working with your organization
> in assuring that the
> disabled have access to qualified O&P practitioners and to receiving quality,
> comprehensive O&P care.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Anthony T. Barr
> Director
>
> Enclosures

Citation

Tony Barr, “Fw: Since you asked!!!,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 26, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/210393.