[Missouri-l] Fw: Reminder: Sign-On to Health Reform and Vision Loss Letter by noon on June 3rd

[Chip Hailey]

Reminder: Sign-On to Health Reform and Vision Loss Letter by noon on June 3rd
----- Original Message ----- 
From: AFB DirectConnect 
To: AFB Subscriber 
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 3:32 PM
Subject: Reminder: Sign-On to Health Reform and Vision Loss Letter by noon on June 3rd


        

          
      

Reminder: Sign-On to Health Reform and Vision Loss Letter by noon on June 3rd

For further information, contact--

Mark Richert
Director, Public Policy
American Foundation for the Blind
202-822-0833
mrichert at afb.net

Leadership in Congress needs to hear from the vision loss community immediately to ensure that policy addressing the unique health care needs of people who are blind or visually impaired is part of comprehensive health care reform legislation. You are invited to join in a sign-on letter to be delivered by AFB next week to the chairs and ranking members of the committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives with particular responsibility for health care legislation. Copies of the letter will also be delivered to senior House and Senate leadership of both parties.

If your organization can sign on to the letter below, please forward the complete name of your organization (no abbreviations please) to blemoine at afb.net by noon on Wednesday, June 3. 

Organizational names will be listed alphabetically at the end of the letter; no actual signatures are necessary. We strongly encourage all organizations of and for people who are blind or visually impaired to join in this effort, and please share this sign-on request widely inviting any groups beyond our field to join us as well.

The letter's text follows--

We, the undersigned organizations representing, serving, and advocating for the more than 20 million Americans of all ages experiencing significant vision loss, urge you to exercise your leadership to ensure that any comprehensive health reform legislation enacted by the 111th Congress adequately addresses the needs and rights of individuals living with vision loss. Specifically, we call upon Congress to send to President Obama legislation that, at a minimum

. ensures that individuals with vision loss and other disabilities can properly identify and take medications by mandating appropriate labeling standards and methods for providing nonvisual and enhanced visual access to drug container labeling and related information;

. establishes clear Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) coverage for, and fosters broader private plan availability of, low vision devices and other medically necessary assistive technologies; and

. allows orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to be full participants in the professional team providing specialized services to people with vision loss by establishing unambiguous Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) reimbursement for the services such professionals offer.

Congress is currently weighing a variety of health care policy options that have the potential to fundamentally transform the scope and delivery of health care to all Americans. While many of these policy options could be of significant benefit to Americans with vision loss, we are concerned that proper attention is not being given in the policy debate to several basic health care needs experienced by people who are blind or visually impaired. We therefore ask for your help to craft and enact policy solutions as part of health care reform to address these unmet needs.

Drug Label Information

Current Law: No state in the union clearly requires labeling of prescription or other medications to be accessible to individuals with vision loss through minimum large print font size, audible labeling technologies, tactile markings or braille, or other methods calculated to provide alternatives to visual use of medication labeling and related information. Moreover, current federal law places no meaningful requirements on such labeling to ensure nonvisual and enhanced visual access. Additionally, while retail pharmacies can be held accountable for providing some degree of access to label information under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA neither provides standards for pharmacies to follow nor establishes a consistent national policy ensuring that customers will, upon request, be provided the nonvisual or enhanced visual means of their choice to use drug labeling safely and independently. The failure to make medication labeling accessible to people with vision loss has been shown to lead to significant health risks (see e.g., consumer survey conducted by the American Foundation for the Blind at www.afb.org/labels).

Proposed Policy: Congress should enact legislation requiring retail pharmacies to offer, upon the request of a customer, nonvisual or enhanced visual means for using medication labeling and related print information safely and independently. The means to accomplish label accessibility must be the means of the customer's choice and conform to national minimum standards to ensure customer privacy, consistency and reliability.

Low Vision Devices and Other Medically Necessary Assistive Technology

Current Law: Very few private health plans offer customers access to low vision devices or other assistive technologies that maximize remaining usable vision or otherwise provide nonvisual access to information and the environment. Moreover, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) refuse Medicare coverage of any device that employs one or more lenses regardless of a device's other technological features simply on the grounds that devices using lenses fall within the long-standing statutory bar on coverage for eye glasses. Other categories of assistive technology are routinely denied coverage on the grounds that they are convenience items, are not primarily for use in the home, or on other erroneous bases. People with vision loss can use low vision devices and other assistive technologies to manage their health care needs, properly identify medications, maintain proper diet, and ensure safe mobility at home and in community. Along with appropriate rehabilitation services, low vision devices and other assistive technologies prevent injury and the acquiring of additional disabling conditions.

Proposed Policy: Congress must overturn the CMS regulation barring coverage for low vision devices and establish clear criteria for their provision. Such criteria should acknowledge other distinctive features employed by the most valuable low vision devices, other than their mere use of a lens, such as a device's integration of a light source, use of electrical power, or other distinctive features. In addition, Congress must establish clear parameters for CMS to follow to provide Medicare beneficiaries with vision loss access to assistive technologies meeting their unique needs.

Vision Rehabilitation

Current Law: Medicare currently pays for some forms of vision rehabilitation services provided under the direct supervision of a physician and offered by an array of state licensed personnel. However, orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists, professionals who are explicitly trained to provide such vision rehabilitation services, are not among the professional disciplines recognized for purposes of Medicare reimbursement. This means that, while the services offered by other professionals--such as occupational and physical therapists--are services provided by personnel who are regularly part of the team of providers offering some limited form of vision rehabilitation addressing, for example, a beneficiary's needs for daily living skills training or other related services, the professional team is incomplete. As a result, beneficiaries are not ensured access to the full range of quality services, such as orientation and mobility, provided by the best qualified professional disciplines. Moreover, since the limited vision rehabilitation-like services that CMS will pay for must be provided under strict physician supervision, these services, which are most relevant when offered in a beneficiary's home or in community, are diminished in effectiveness. Finally, a Medicare demonstration project currently being undertaken to assess vision rehabilitation reimbursement has such significant design and administrative flaws that Congress should not wait for its conclusions or have confidence in their validity.

Proposed Policy: Congress must establish unambiguous coverage for the services offered to Medicare beneficiaries by orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to allow the most qualified and complete team of professional service providers to meet the unique needs of individuals with vision loss. Such services should be allowed to be provided in a beneficiary's home and community to maximize their effectiveness.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and for your advocacy on behalf of Americans living with vision loss. We look forward to working closely with you as health reform moves forward.

Respectfully,

[organizations listed alphabetically]





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