CRT Product Expo returns to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON – NCART, iNRRTS and U.S. Rehab will host a Product Expo on Capitol Hill on May 13 to give lawmakers and their health staffers an inside look at what’s involved in the delivery of complex rehab technology (CRT) – from the complexity of the equipment to the interdisciplinary team that provides it.

“As we’re walking through the equipment – from seating and positioning to standing devices – they’ll have the supplier’s perspective, the manufacturer’s, the clinician’s,” said Andrea Madsen, executive director of iNRRTS. “The idea is to share what the process looks like for obtaining CRT and gain an understanding of the interdisciplinary approach. This is a team of professionals with the consumer at the center.”

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Cannon House Office Building. Go here for a website dedicated to the event.

Touch base, touch equipment

CRT stakeholders have not held a Product Expo since 2023, and with frequent turnover among lawmakers and staff, organizers say events like this are essential for ongoing education.

“Especially with health legislative aides, they move around, and you always want the staff to be educated on your issues so when there’s legislation, there’s no confusion,” said Wayne Grau, executive director of NCART. “That’s important – those staffers are smart and they have influence.”

To help drive attendance, NCART plans to organize a consumer call-in the week before the Expo and schedule several Hill meetings the day prior.

“We’ll make them aware of the issues and then ask them to come meet some consumers and clinicians who can tell you about the medical reasons why this equipment is so important,” Grau said.

Provide ‘voice for all CRT’

With ongoing efforts to advance access to carbon fiber and titanium complex manual wheelchairs and to secure Medicare coverage for power standing devices, stakeholders plan to have those products on display. But organizers aim to showcase the full range of CRT.

“We’ll have different pieces of equipment and various manufacturers represented,” said Tyler Mahncke, who is part of the senior leadership of U.S. Rehab. “We’d love to have equipment for pediatrics as well as for adults, manual as well as power. We’re there to be a voice for all of complex rehab technology.”

Make a difference

Although CRT advocates meet with lawmakers regularly, they say the hands‑on experience of a Product Expo can make a deeper impression.

“Until they see and feel it, they don’t really get the difference these products can make,” Grau said. “It’s why the Expo two years ago went really well and we’re building on that. We need to maintain a voice on Capitol Hill. With all the things going on there, we want to say, ‘Don’t forget the needs of complex rehab patients.’”