Home Health & Hospice Week

The wheelchair industry appears to have lured a political heavy-weight to its corner.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) has asked CMS in a Feb. 24 letter to furnish an explanation of the "process" CMS and the durable medical equipment regional carriers used to issue the so-called clarification to wheelchair coverage in December. "While ensuring that we do all that we can to eliminate fraud and waste from government programs, I also want to be certain that we are not inappropriately preventing our eligible citizens from obtaining the medically-needed equipment they are authorized to receive," Grassley writes.

This is an abrupt about-face to Grassley's Feb. 13 letter demanding that the General Accounting Office brief committee staff on the wheelchair fraud issue, including advertising for the items, and a press release calling for hearings on the matter (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIII, No. 7).

It could be money doing the talking. Five wheelchair companies -- Invacare, Sunrise Medical Inc., The Scooter Store, Pride Mobility Products Corp. and Mobility Products Unlimited -- have pledged at least $250,000 to lobby against the December coverage restriction, according to the Associated Press.