March 2023 Advocacy Update
From United Spinal National
Great news! For the first time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed expanding coverage to power seat elevation equipment on certain power wheelchairs.
We need your voice to help secure Medicare coverage for critical wheelchair technology. Medicare wants to hear from you, so please help the wheelchair user community by submitting your comments by March 17, 2023.
We need to show Medicare that wheelchair users and people with disabilities strongly support this coverage and urge Medicare to go even further to ensure that all those who need access to these systems can get it. As you know, these systems are vital for wheelchair users to be able to:
Safely transfer from a wheelchair to another surface, particularly if it is not level with your chair;
Increase your reach to access higher surfaces across the home;
Prevent and reduce stress injuries from repetitive transfers and reaching; and
Function independently at home as much as possible.
Also, please describe how seat elevation is needed for functional reach in your home.
CMS is currently accepting public comments through Friday, March 17 before they finalize their decision on coverage for power seat elevation systems. They will be considering additional comments about power standing systems at a later date. Please share your story and let Medicare know how you could or do benefit from these technologies.
Further information and instructions are available at www.rise4access.org. You can read United Spinal's blog post on this topic here. You can also spread the word and share your story on social media using the hashtag #rise4access.
New Advocacy Program Webpage
The Advocacy and Policy Team is excited to announce the new Advocacy Program Webpage! We have set a goal of building a year-round advocacy program that includes multiple opportunities for people to get involved in the way that they choose, and all of these opportunities can be found at this one location. On the webpage you can access:
Action Alerts
Registration for the Grassroots Advocacy Network
Advocacy Live
Archives for Meet an Advocate Live Streams
Virtual Advocacy Series
Advocacy Blog Posts
Also, we are still looking for participants for our working groups. Information on each of the four working groups can be found on the webpage, along with the form to sign-up to participate. Please contact Steve Lieberman at slieberman@unitedspinal.org or Annie Streit at astreit@unitedspinal.org if you have any questions.
We are extremely proud of the growth of this dedicated network of advocates, and we look forward to this upcoming year. We have more coming, and we are not done yet!
Advocacy Live!
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Advocacy LIVE event on Tuesday, March 21, at 5:00PM ET. This Advocacy LIVE is a great opportunity to connect with advocates across the country to share information and resources, ask questions, and collaborate advocacy efforts!
Pre-register for the Advocacy LIVE event on March 21, 5:00PM ET