More Bad News For The Powered Wheelchair Industry AND The Powered Wheelchair Consumer

Just last week RAMP - Restore Access to Mobility Partnership - who’s members comprise American Association for Homecare; Invacare Corporation; the MED Group; Mobility Products Unlimited, LLC; and Pride Mobility issued a press release stating among other things

RAMP welcomes the additional assurances from CMS that down-coding will not occur, but we emphasize that several policy revisions are still necessary, and the industry must thoroughly evaluate the yet-to-be released pricing information for the new policy and process to be successful.

Industry heavyweight Mal Mixon CEO of Invacare was quoted as saying “We have made progress…CMS has engaged in a constructive dialogue with stakeholders”, while Dan Meuser, President of Pride USA was quoted “The resolution of this issue exemplifies what can be accomplished when CMS and stakeholders work together”.

Also last week - Mike Hammes - CEO of Sunrise Medical, in an editorial in HME News entitled - Sunrise CEO tells providers to ‘face reality’ - went on to appeal to homecare providers to enlist the support base of consumers in opposing unreasonable CMS plans.

Well it seems the the glimmer of optimism was somewhat short lived. Invacare issued this statement yesterday:

Invacare Corporation Urges CMS to Establish Fair Prices to Ensure Consumer Access to Power Mobility Devices

On October 2, 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the proposed reimbursement levels for power wheelchairs scheduled to take effect on November 15, 2006. The proposed fee schedule calls for substantial cuts in rehab reimbursement, which would significantly limit access to the medically appropriate power mobility device (PMD) for the disabled community.

Mixon goes on to say “I was in the Rose Garden when Former President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. I don’t believe it is the current Administration’s or Congress’ intention to effectively prevent people with disabilities from being able to obtain the power wheelchair they need to get around in their homes and communities.”

Invacare stated that this may have an impact on guidance and issued an 8K to this effect.

From my perspective - you just have to wonder how far this will go. The industry has certainly made its case working together on this - but it seems it may not be enough.

Due to the fact that the rehab powered product needs to meet specific custom consumer needs it is also an area which has arguably been the most profitable for the industry already hit by huge reimbursement cuts in other areas of the business.

This is how I current score the game.

CMS: +1
Industry: -1
Consumer: -2

Related post:

New Medicare Wheelchair Plan Could Hurt Pride - And Industry Update Prior to Medtrade 2006