**URGENT NOTICE**

If you are an amputee or interested in the welfare of amputees please take a moment to read this.

Medicare, through its contractors, has proposed new coverage, coding, and clinical care guidelines that would have a profoundly negative impact on amputees across the United States. In an attempt to “sneak” these profound and life changing policies through Medicare is fast tracking the changes and only gave US citizens one month to prepare a rebuttal.

If implemented, the policy installs new barriers that would limit and potentially deny access to appropriate prosthetic care. It eliminates coverage for certain prosthetic devices that amputees depend on for every step they take every day. It even would preclude amputees from using a prosthesis if they failed to meet the entirely nebulous and subjective standard of “the appearance of natural gait” while using the prosthesis. Equally troublesome, the proposed policy contains no references to clinical or medical evidence supporting the changes.

This is a call to action. If we do not stand up to be heard, Amputees in this country will be required to sit in a wheel chair or beg for charitable assistance for a prosthesis.

If these guidelines are passed, having a prosthetic will be a deemed a “Luxury”. Please take action now and sign the petition. We need 100,000 by the end of August but 250,000 would be better. These guidelines cannot stand as written. Please forward this email to as many people as possible and help us stand up for the Amputee community. #NotaLuxury

The signed petition does not mean change will occur or end of this process, rather just the beginning. While the petition does say that our Presidential administration will consider the issue, don’t expect that to change anything. We need everyone to contact their Senators and Congressional representatives to show them the value of quality prosthetic care and ask them to rescind the Medicare proposal which limits coverage for lower limb prosthetics.

*Please note, after signing the petition you will receive an email, please click the link in the email to confirm your signature, otherwise it will not count.

Petition Link:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/rescind-medicare-proposal-restricting-access-prosthetic-limbs-and-returning-amputees-1970s-standards-care

If you are compelled to stand up for the amputee community, please follow the link below and send your congressperson a format letter.

http://aopavotes.channeldemocracy.com/connect/write?alert=1965

Sincerely,
Forest R Sexton, CPO
President
Spectrum Orthotics & Prosthetics Inc