AOPA pulls out all the stops

WASHINGTON - The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association is organizing stakeholders to fight proposed changes to coverage requirements to prostheses.

AOPA has commissioned print and TV advertising in the Washington, D.C., area; it's arranging for top officials and a Boston Marathon survivor to attend, and hopefully speak at, a DME MAC open meeting on Aug. 26; and it's organizing more than 100 amputees to converge at CMS headquarters for a protest later that same day.

Also part of the fray: a petition organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prostheticsasking the White House to rescind the proposed changes. The petition has more than 100,000 signatures.

All of these activities lead up to an Aug. 31 deadline to submit comments to CMS on the proposed changes.