A little Christmas guilt
Jeff Erenstone
Description
Collection
Title:
A little Christmas guilt
Creator:
Jeff Erenstone
Date:
12/29/2013
Text:
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and are excited about the new year. I
hope you got chance to catch up with family and relax a bit...... because
now I am hoping to lay down some Christmas guilt.
Last week I asked for people forward me the letters that they sent to their
members of congress regarding our prosthetic regulation problems. I
receive only 15. First of all, I would like to thank the people who sent
me letters....Thank you. You are on my Nice list. The rest of you are on
my Naughty list.
If you have contacted congress and missed my post or were too busy before
the Holidays to respond.... please forward it now (preferably in PDF, but I
will take any form). However if you have not sent a letter to your
Representative than you should. It is easy and it part of your
responsibility to the field. I constantly hear that our field is too small
and we don't have an enough lobbyists to influence congress. Well there
are thousands of you on this list serve and as far as I know only 15 sent
letters....what do you expect. Most of those 15 got personalized responses
(eventually). If they spend to the time to respond than they are at least
aware of the problem and may be willing to take some small action when
asked.
So here is what I suggest. Go to
<URL Redacted> and plug in your zip code or go
to <URL Redacted> and
click on your state. Then write an email and send it. Then copy and paste
the email to your other representatives. If will probably take you a half
hour. When you are done, forward the email to me.
We are fighting for the future of our field. We are fighting for our jobs
and our patients. If you think I am laying on the guilt now...compare that
to the guilt that you will feel when you are unemployed or when your
patients can't get the care they deserve.
Please write about whatever you want. My favorite topic is asking them to
support our goal of getting the Lower Limb Prosthetic LCD rewritten to come
in line with the superior policy (PIM 5.7) and the laws. The following
sentence should be removed from the LCD because it is unsubstantiated....
Supplier-produced records, even if signed by the ordering physician, and
attestation letters (e.g. letters of medical necessity) are deemed not to
be part of a medical record for Medicare payment purposes.
So put contacting your Representative down as a New Years Resolution and
stick to it. If you are travelling this Holiday, there is no better time
to write a letter than on a plane instead watching the bad movie and
drinking the little bottles on alcohol (on second thought the alcohol might
help you strike the right tone.)
Do it now and it will help you have a Happy Holidays in the future.
-Jeff
Jeff Erenstone CPO
Mountain O and P Services
7 Old Military Road
Lake Placid NY 12946
www.mountainoandp.com
Phone (518) 523-2419
Fax (518) 523-7192
hope you got chance to catch up with family and relax a bit...... because
now I am hoping to lay down some Christmas guilt.
Last week I asked for people forward me the letters that they sent to their
members of congress regarding our prosthetic regulation problems. I
receive only 15. First of all, I would like to thank the people who sent
me letters....Thank you. You are on my Nice list. The rest of you are on
my Naughty list.
If you have contacted congress and missed my post or were too busy before
the Holidays to respond.... please forward it now (preferably in PDF, but I
will take any form). However if you have not sent a letter to your
Representative than you should. It is easy and it part of your
responsibility to the field. I constantly hear that our field is too small
and we don't have an enough lobbyists to influence congress. Well there
are thousands of you on this list serve and as far as I know only 15 sent
letters....what do you expect. Most of those 15 got personalized responses
(eventually). If they spend to the time to respond than they are at least
aware of the problem and may be willing to take some small action when
asked.
So here is what I suggest. Go to
<URL Redacted> and plug in your zip code or go
to <URL Redacted> and
click on your state. Then write an email and send it. Then copy and paste
the email to your other representatives. If will probably take you a half
hour. When you are done, forward the email to me.
We are fighting for the future of our field. We are fighting for our jobs
and our patients. If you think I am laying on the guilt now...compare that
to the guilt that you will feel when you are unemployed or when your
patients can't get the care they deserve.
Please write about whatever you want. My favorite topic is asking them to
support our goal of getting the Lower Limb Prosthetic LCD rewritten to come
in line with the superior policy (PIM 5.7) and the laws. The following
sentence should be removed from the LCD because it is unsubstantiated....
Supplier-produced records, even if signed by the ordering physician, and
attestation letters (e.g. letters of medical necessity) are deemed not to
be part of a medical record for Medicare payment purposes.
So put contacting your Representative down as a New Years Resolution and
stick to it. If you are travelling this Holiday, there is no better time
to write a letter than on a plane instead watching the bad movie and
drinking the little bottles on alcohol (on second thought the alcohol might
help you strike the right tone.)
Do it now and it will help you have a Happy Holidays in the future.
-Jeff
Jeff Erenstone CPO
Mountain O and P Services
7 Old Military Road
Lake Placid NY 12946
www.mountainoandp.com
Phone (518) 523-2419
Fax (518) 523-7192
Citation
Jeff Erenstone, “A little Christmas guilt,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 1, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/235911.