December 2017 ACTION ALERT: Veterans Choice of O&P Practitioner

NAAOP asks its members and friends to take action by December 15th by submitting comments opposing the proposed Veterans Administration regulation to eliminate amputee veterans’ choice in selecting a VA prosthetist/orthotist or a private, VA-contracted prosthetist/orthotist, to provide their O&P care. As currently drafted, the VA’s proposed rule could seriously erode veterans’ access to appropriate, timely and convenient O&P care. Link to proposed Veterans Administration regulation:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/10/16/2017-22358/prosthetic-and-rehabilitative-items-and-services

For over fifty years, the VA has contracted with private practitioners to provide timely and quality O&P care to veterans with limb loss and other disabilities who honorably served our country. These contractual arrangements offer veterans with amputations greater access to high-quality professionals, the newest technologies, and state-of-the-art laboratories where prostheses and orthoses are designed, fit and fabricated. For years, private, VA-authorized O&P practitioners have played a vital role in augmenting the VA’s capacity to serve our nation’s veteran amputees and others with disabling conditions.

On October 16, 2017, the VA issued a proposed rule that would reverse this long-standing VA practice by insisting that the VA has the sole authority to determine whether a veteran can access a private O&P practitioner with a VA contract. The proposed rule states that this is an “administrative business decision” without any reference to the importance of clinical circumstances of the patient.

This proposal would effectively deny veterans their right to select a prosthetist/orthotist of their choice, an important quality indicator and patient protection that has long been VA policy. This proposal is striking because it runs counter to the key tenets of the Veterans CHOICE Program, which allows veterans to access VA-funded health care services in the private sector.

ACTION ALERT: Please take action by December 15th by submitting comments to the VA opposing this proposed change in policy and asking the VA to maintain veterans’ right to choose their O&P practitioner, whether that practitioner is a VA employee or a private O&P practitioner with a VA contract. Here is how you can help and thank you for your efforts:

1. Go to http://wp.me/a7jywP-g2 to access a draft letter for practitioners to use in submitting comments.
2. Go to http://wp.me/a7jywP-g3 to access a draft letter for your veteran patients to use in submitting comments.
3. Modify the letter(s) to suit your own situation and add any additional comments you wish. Ask your veteran patients to participate.
4. Go to this link, https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=VA-2017-VHA-0023-0003 to electronically submit your comments. You have two options:

a. Write “See attached letter” in the comment window and follow directions to upload your letter in PDF format; or,

b. Copy and paste the contents of your letter into the comment window and hit send.