Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of patients, practitioners and the American taxpayer to introduce the Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Improvement Act of 2012 with my colleagues, Senators Snowe and Grassley.

The current orthotics and prosthetics, O&P, market is ripe for fraud and abuse. Unqualified and dishonest practitioners are taking advantage of patients and Medicare by providing substandard O&P products and manipulating the Medicare payment system. No rule has been implemented on the Federal level which would require these practitioners and providers to be licensed or accredited, despite calls from Congress to do so, and therefore all comers are able to bill Medicare on the taxpayer's dime.

Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have tried to address this issue in the past, but have come up short. In both 2000 and 2003, Congress passed legislation which should have increased the qualification standards for these providers. Unfortunately, nothing came of these efforts and a decade later we have a system in place that does little to discourage fraud and abuse in these fields.

One department, however, has stepped up and taken the lead on this issue: the Department of Veterans Affairs. After a program evaluation showed that VA O&P Laboratories did not meet quality standards they changed their policy so that only accredited laboratories and individuals may fabricate prostheses and orthoses.

The rest of the country must follow the VA's lead in order to ensure that patients from Oregon to Maine have access to high quality orthotics and prosthetics from a trusted source. Our legislation accomplishes this goal through measures that would improve the oversight of O&P practitioners.

The Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Improvement Act would get rid of unqualified practitioners by prohibiting CMS from making any Medicare payment for orthotics and prosthetics to a practitioner who has not secured a license in those states that require licensure. Again, this requirement was issued by CMS in 2005 but has not yet been implemented. Practitioners in states without licensure requirements would need to become accredited in order to continue practicing. The accreditation standard would be identical to the standard adopted by the Veterans Administration in 2004.

The legislation goes a step further by requiring that the Medicare payment is matched to the qualification of the provider and the complexity of the patient's needs and the device provided. This provision will protect patients from suppliers with little or no education and training to provide comprehensive O&P services, while rewarding providers who have secured more advanced training and practice on more complex patients.

These common sense reforms will benefit patients, qualified practitioners and taxpayers. I urge my colleagues to join Senators Snowe, Grassley and me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

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