Anthony,

Even with private insurance, a "certificate of medical necessity" (CMN)
needs to be carefully written to get the insurance company to pay for
many options.  Beth can probably explain the CMN process better than I
can.  These "options" may be necessary for a power chair user to
effectively use the chair.  In the Manhattan Medicaid office last year,
approval rates for AT devices including power chairs went down
precipitously as Medicaid funding was being reduced, and fraud was
uncovered.  I'll see if I can find the links to those articles again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/nyregion/18medicaid.html?ei=5088&en=b7
bf75d8d29b6c0b&ex=1279339200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/nyregion/19medicaid.html?ei=5090&en=b9
0bb7700cdec7d0&ex=1279425600&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewa
nted=all&adxnnlx=1144091879-JKhSA16Yqo9q4tEX+/+jGw

Also, if you ever watch late night TV, there are often infomercials
(infomercial is actually a recognized word in MS Word's dictionary!)
encouraging people on Medicare and Medicaid to get a powerchair at "no
cost to you!"  IMHO, that sounds like an invitation to fraud.

Kendall 

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950


-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Arnold [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 5:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Power chair question

Friends, 

 

I don't know how many of you have taken the time to study the power
chair
industry (and I know it's probably boring to discuss unless you have a
definite interest), but recently I was describing to somebody that
Invicare
has several different series of power chairs they manufacture.  I know
that
this party doesn't want a full explanation on the engineering, but am I
right they use various hardware components to help create various price
levels.  

 

Thanks, 

Anthony 

Visit my website at  <http://www.anthonyarnold.net>
www.anthonyarnold.net

 

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