Medicare, through its contractors, has proposed new guidelines that would have a profoundly negative impact on amputees across the United States.
If implemented, the policy would limit and potentially deny access to appropriate prosthetic care. It eliminates coverage for certain prosthetic devices that amputees depend on for every step they take every day.
It even would prevent amputees from using a prosthesis if they failed to meet the unclear and subjective standard of “the appearance of natural gait (the manner of walking or moving on foot)” while using the prosthesis.
The proposed policy contains no references to clinical or medical evidence supporting the changes.
For all of these reasons, the draft policy should be voided.
The profession has submitted a petition to the White House and if we can get 100,000 signatures by August 31 the White House staff will review it, send it to the appropriate policy experts and issue an official response.
We encourage you to sign the petition and share the information on your social media. We need all of the support we can get.
