Medicare Proposed Change to Orthotic Dispensing Rule (Robert Steinberg, DPM)
While it is true that Medicare does not normally cover orthotics the "read between the lines" implication of this proposal is that DPMs, MDs and DO physicians are not trained to dispense foot orthotics. I can think of just a few things that a plaintiff's counsel might do with that at a trial where the patient alleges they were injured from your orthotic device.
This is regardless of whether you care or don't care whether third party payers cover the device. Whether you agree with this philosophy or not, the jury just hearing this will no doubt be more empathetic to the patient, despite what your defense counsel and scope of practice act states.
This issue goes far beyond whether you care to participate in Medicare or any third party payment system. It also involves your colleagues who may not have the luxury of practicing in a geographic area where they either participate in Medicare or other plans or they will not survive.
Yes, there are certain plans I and others may choose not to accept but as stated previously, this is an attack on your state scope of practice and I hope that every DPM reading this letter will have submitted a letter to CMS reflecting that philosophy. APMA has on their website provided a very simple and free way to submit your comments.
In this forum, several companies who support the profession also have provided the readers with a similar free way to submit your comments. The deadline is 5PM Monday March 13 2017. I urge everyone to either take 10 minutes to compose your own letter or two minutes to use one of the sample templated letters easily available via the recent "Your Future is At Stake" advertisement contained in this forum
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