December 8, 2016 Good News for CRT Stakeholders. Yesterday afternoon the Senate passed a 6-month delay of inappropriate Medicare payment cuts to CRT power wheelchair accessories as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The House of Representatives passed the bill last week and it now goes to the President for signing into law. The Cures Act also includes Competitive Bidding "rural relief" language that will retroactively rescind the broad DME July 1, 2016 Medicare cuts until January 1, 2017. This will allow CRT providers to recoup payment reductions to CRT manual accessories and other items provided from July 1 to December 31, 2016. The rescinded payment cuts will go back into effect on January 1, 2017. As we have reported, the year-end challenge was to get our CRT legislation attached to a larger bill before Congress adjourned. Thankfully we were included in a year-end bill. Unfortunately, it is a short-term fix and does not expand the delay to CRT manual wheelchair accessories. The reality is our Congressional supporters worked hard to get the best relief achievable within a difficult and limited year-end legislative environment. This 6-month period allows time for us to work with next year's new Congress and Administration to pursue a permanent and more expansive fix through policy or legislation. We will start 2017 with Congressional CRT support at its highest level ever. This provides a solid foundation to get a permanent stop to these inappropriate CRT accessories payment cuts and to establish a Separate CRT Benefit Category. We sincerely thank all the Members of Congress for their support, particularly our CRT champions. Our champions include Senators Portman (R-OH), Casey (D-PA), Cochran (R-MS), and Schumer (D-NY) along with Representatives Zeldin (R-NY), Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Crowley (D-NY), Brady (R-TX), Tiberi (R-OH), Kelly (R-PA), Nunes (R-CA), Price (R-GA), Loebsack (D-IA), Larson (D-CT), DeGette (D-CO). Please email your Members and thank them. Let them know we look forward to working with them next year to get the needed permanent changes implemented to protect access for people with disabilities. Finally, thanks to all the people and organizations who worked hard this year reaching out to Congress to secure their support. CRT stakeholders are proving that while it takes time to get the attention of Congress, if you have a good plan, good advocates, and polite persistence progress can be made. More details will follow as we move ahead. Regards, Don Donald E. Clayback Executive Director | NCART Office 716-839-9728 | Cell 716-913-4754 dclayback@ncart.us |www.ncart.us