Date: Thursday, July 13, 2023
Category: General Session
You may feel that creating lasting change for the better in Washington, D.C. is a hopeless pipe dream. But it is possible – it just takes a village. Join NCART, NRRTS, the Clinicians Task Force and RESNA as we reveal the secret sauce behind this year’s “big win,” CMS coverage of power seat elevation systems. Learn how a coalition of over 60 organizations is continuing to work together on making power seat elevation coverage a daily reality and is now focused on doing the same for standing systems. Find out how you can get involved and make a difference by sharing your time, knowledge, and case studies with your professional membership organizations to help people with disabilities gain access to the assistive technologies that they need to live independent and healthy lives.
Learning Objectives:
- Name a benefit of organizational collaboration when advocating for systemic change in assistive technology policies and recite an outcome that occurred when collaboration was absent. (Examples: influence of stakeholder perspectives to balance and achieve equity in policy creation and implementation - CMS implementation of documentation requirements for PMD after the scooter store incident? rejection of telehealth in N Carolina?)
- Identify 3 strategies that advocates used to successfully achieve coverage of power seat elevation systems. (Examples: Position Papers and research submission to CMS; keeping up public pressure to release guidance; activating a network to generate thousands of comments not once, but twice.)
- Identify at least 3 other initiatives that stakeholders are advocating for. (Eg. standing systems on PWC, seating services for CMS home health patients, Right to Repair, telehealth, etc.)