US-POLITICS: ALERT! - HCFA Competitive Bidding Project for Orthotic Services

US-POLITICS: ALERT! - HCFA Competitive Bidding Project for Orthotic Services

Dear US O&P Practitioners & Consumers:

THIS IS AN URGENT NAAOP CALL TO ACTION!!

NAAOP has been seeking and continues to aggressively seek the exclusion of
professional orthotic services from HCFA's DMEPOS Competitive Bidding
Project. Despite this, and to the best of our knowledge, HCFA is moving
forward with plans to include a full complement of professional orthotic
care, comprised of 142 L-codes, in Medicare's Second Competitive Bidding
Project. This is occurring despite repeated assurances from HCFA that they
had no intention of competitively bidding orthotics and prosthetics.

Following HCFA's release of the list of Standardized Orthotic Products to
be
competitively bid, NAAOP representatives met in a conference call on Friday,
February 4, 2000, with the Palmetto GBA administrators and HCFA officials
tasked with developing the guidelines for this Project. In this conference
call, we reiterated our concerns and objections regarding inclusion of
professional orthotic services in this Project. This was followed by two
comprehensive letters further clarifying our objections and concerns, both of
which can be viewed on the NAAOP web site.

One letter, from NAAOP General Counsel, Peter W. Thomas, Esq., detailed a
significant history of documentation where we were assured that HCFA had no
plans to include orthotics and prosthetics among the items put up for
competitive bidding.

The second letter, from NAAOP President, Jan J. Stokosa, CP, comprehensively
addressed our clinical concerns regarding the negative impact competitive
bidding will have on the quality of care to Medicare beneficiaries. This
letter further attempted to clarify the ongoing misunderstandings regarding
the delivery of professional orthotic (and prosthetic) services and that of
durable medical equipment (DME).

Finally, NAAOP has suggested as an alternative that HCFA follow the
recommendation of the Office of Inspector General and adopt qualified
provider standards for the provision of professional orthotic care.

As follow up to these letters, NAAOP representatives again met via conference
call with more senior HCFA representatives in Baltimore and the Palmetto GBA
competitive bidding administrators in South Carolina on Friday, February 18,
2000, to
further address our concerns. While these conference calls clearly helped
clarify an understanding of O&P and NAAOP's opposition to competitive bidding
for these services, we have not yet achieved a positive outcome to this
problem. NAAOP believes that further action is now necessary!

YOUR IMMEDIATE RESONSE IS NOW NEEDED!!

To further demonstrate to HCFA the concerns related to this Project, NAAOP is
encouraging all ABC credentialed orthotic providers, as well as the consumers
of professional orthotic services to respond independently to this issue!

NAAOP encourages you to contact the HCFA officials identified on the NAAOP
Web Site, as well as your own US Congressmen and US Senators to advise them
of your concerns and, hopefully, seek their support with a letter from them
to HCFA to exempt professional orthotic services from this Competitive
Bidding Project.

Information is provided at the NAAOP Web Site that will give you the basis
for a personal response to your Congressman or Senator. You can also respond
directly to HCFA on this issue at the following email address: <Email Address Redacted>

Also at the NAAOP Web Site, you can access several HCFA hyperlinks which will
take you to sites that provide additional, in-depth, information on this
Competitive Bidding Project. Additional related hyperlinks are then
accessible from each of the HCFA sites identified on the NAAOP Web Site. To
access the above mentioned information simply click on the following NAAOP
hyperlink: <A HREF= <URL Redacted>>NAAOP -
Homepage</A>

Or enter the following NAAOP URL into you web browser:

  <URL Redacted>

To the best of our knowledge the DEADLINE for responses is:
Tuesday, February 29, 2000

The primary focus of this HCFA Competitive Bidding Project is to further
reduce the total cost of O&P & DME to the Medicare program. NAAOP's key
focus points on this issue have clearly been the following:

(1.) HCFA's ongoing confusion of O&P with DME, which has only stimulated
increased costs through fraud and abuse.
(2.) The need for recognized and appropriate provider standards to control
fraud and abuse.
(3.) The need for HCFA to assure the quality of O&P health care by
appropriately identifying which providers are qualified to utilize the O&P
L-Codes. Without addressing these concerns, it is NAAOP's opinion that
competitive bidding will only lead to dramatic reduction in the quality of
care and totally eliminate the Medicare recipient's choice of provider, as
well as the physician's choice of provider.

Again, we will continue to keep you informed via OANDP-L and/or through
updates on the NAAOP Homepage.


John N. Billock, CPO, Co-Chairman
NAAOP Legislative Committee
Voice: 330-856-2553 Fax: 330-856-4619 E-mail: <Email Address Redacted>

National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics & Prosthetics
1875 Eye Street, NW, 12th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006-5409
NAAOP Voice: (202) 624-0064 Toll Free: (800) 622-6740 Fax: (202)
737-2517
NAAOP Web Site: www.oandp.com/naaop E-mail: <Email Address Redacted>