Date: Monday, August 19, 2019
Category: General

This week (August 19^th to 23^rd) is National Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) Awareness Week. CRT Awareness Week serves to increase awareness and understanding of CRT and the important role it plays in the health, function, and independence of children and adults with disabilities.

The CRT community is planning to use this week as an opportunity to help keep our momentum towards passage of federal CRT legislation, which the ITEM Coalition has supported strongly for years. This includes bills in the Senate and House to protect access to manual CRT wheelchairs and accessories, and a House bill to differentiate CRT as a separate benefit category in the Medicare program. The House manual wheelchair bill, H.R. 2293, has been included in two larger health packages that have cleared the Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees, but we need to build on this momentum and maintain congressional support for this legislation.  

The letters the ITEM Coalition has sent supporting current CRT legislation are located below. The August recess and CRT Awareness Week are great opportunities to provide legislators, staff, and grassroots supporters information on how important CRT is and why passage of this legislation is critical.

• CRT Awareness Week 2019
• CRT Week Call to Action
• Letter of Support for CRT Separate Category Legislation (D0840084-2)
• Letter to Congress re. CRT Manual Legislation (House) (D0840080-2)
• Letter to Congress re. CRT Manual Legislation (Senate) (D0840081-2)

We are asking members of the ITEM Coalition who support CRT to reach out to their members of Congress (House and Senate) to express support for these bills, and to share the attached call to action with your individual members if you are able. Emails, phone calls, and personal visits to congressional offices can help remind members to prioritize moving CRT legislation forward once Congress is back in session. The National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART), an ITEM Coalition members, has developed an advocacy tool on its website to easily contact members of Congress. Please visit www.protectmymobility.org to email or call your congressional offices and support this legislation. For more information, please refer to the linked Call for Action.

We appreciate your continued support of this issue. If you have any questions regarding the CRT legislation or how to share with your members, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Joseph.Nahra@PowersLaw.com or Peter Thomas at Peter.Thomas@PowersLaw.com.