Home Health & Hospice Week

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is mistaken in its assertion that claims for power mobility devices are on the rise--and government data can prove the agency is in the wrong.

That's the latest volley in a battle between the power mobility industry and CMS over pending cuts in Medicare rates for PMDs, which include power wheelchairs and scooters.

A fee schedule released last month and set to go into effect Nov. 15 slashes PMD rates by as much as 41 percent, reports Michael Frisby of Restore Access to Mobility Partnership (RAMP), a coalition representing power wheelchair providers and manufacturers.

Making a case for the necessity of the cuts, CMS said that utilization has increased 2,700 percent in the last nine years. But an analysis of data from the federal government's Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (SADMERC) shows that utilization of Medicare's mobility benefit has declined significantly since 2003.

There was a 29 percent drop from 2003 to 2004, reports RAMP. In 2005, utilization increased at a rate of only 8 percent over 2004.

"It is certainly misleading for CMS to contend that some big, recent surge in utilization calls for these draconian cuts," says Invacare CEO Mal Mixon, in a statement released by RAMP.