Begin forwarded message: > From: AFB DirectConnect <mrichert@afb.net> > Date: June 1, 2018 at 9:50:03 AM EDT > To: <4justice@concentric.net> > Subject: New Date! Join a National Conversation on Medicare Reimbursement and Strengthening the Vision Professions > Reply-To: AFB DirectConnect <mrichert@afb.net> > > > Read this edition of the DirectConnect at AFB.org. > View this email in your browser > > Announcing > > An AER-Led National Conversation > > hosted by the > > American Foundation for the Blind > > entitled > > Wrestling with Realities, Realigning Priorities: > Strengthening our profession while increasing sustainability for Vision Rehab Professionals > > Including Hot Topic Discussion on Medicare Reimbursement for Vision Rehab Professionals > > Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 3pm Eastern > > To join the call: > > By phone: > Dial: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-646-558-8656 > Use Meeting ID: 384-128-997 > > or > > Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/384128997 > > At the 2016 Biennial International Conference of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), the AER membership adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a task force to consider and implement strategies to achieve third-party funding, such as Medicare, for the specialized services provided by vision rehabilitation professionals; the resolution is below. > > The task force has completed its work and has generated a brief report, which is also included below. > > You are invited to join in a national conversation about this important report which reflects a field-wide consensus about the field's need to focus our advocacy efforts in directions other than Medicare/third-party reimbursement for vision rehabilitation services at this time. Key task force leaders and participants will share their perspectives and walk us through the study which yielded the task force's conclusion that we should suspend our pursuit of third-party reimbursement while we prepare to be more accountable to funding sources, and pursue initiatives to promote and strengthen our professions and provide our service to all those who need it. > > After an interactive dialogue with task force participants sharing their points of view, we will open the floor for your reactions, questions, comments and alternative perspectives. > > There is no cost to you to join the conversation and no need to RSVP. To join the conversation, please join the meeting a few minutes prior to the start time at 3pm Eastern on Tuesday afternoon, June 12, so we can begin the meeting promptly. > > To join the conversation by phone: > > Dial: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-646-558-8656 > Use Meeting ID: 384-128-997 > > or > > Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/384128997 > > The conversation will also be recorded and transcribed and made available via AER's and AFB's websites for those who may not be able to join the meeting at its scheduled time. > > We look forward to your participation, please share this open invitation with your networks, and we invite you to review the task force report and AER resolution below. > Report: Task Force on Third-Party Coverage for Specialized Services > > This task force considered what would be involved to achieve third-party funding for the specialized services provided by the following vision rehabilitation professionals: Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Vision Rehabilitation Therapist and Low Vision Therapist. It was hoped that Third-Party Reimbursement would provide the funding and facilitate referrals to enable us to reach all those who need our services, and help ensure that only qualified professionals would provide that service. This would strengthen our professions and the universities that prepare them, increasing recognition that our professions are the ones which are qualified to provide vision-related services. > > Our discussions revealed that third-party reimbursement isn’t what many of us had imagined it would be, and accessing it has a cost and risks. It won’t solve the funding problems that we hoped it would – it would only fill in some gaps, and it would require us to change the way that we provide service. For example, we would need to have evidence-based assessments and outcome measurements, which have not yet been developed. > > Therefore, the consensus of the Task Force is that we should suspend our pursuit of third-party reimbursement for now, and instead put our resources into initiatives that we are more confident can promote and strengthen our professions and provide our service to all those who need it. In the meantime, we should become better prepared to show evidence of the value of our services in such a way as to be accountable to funding sources. > > To that end, we plan to organize a teleconference to share these results and start the conversation and invite ideas to consider other strategies for achieving our goals. > > Third Party Reimbursement Task Force > > Members: > > Co-Chairs: > Cathy Holden (Senior VP of Rehabilitation/Clinical Operations, NewView Oklahoma) > Dona Sauerburger (Certified O&M Specialist, Maryland) > Members: > Bill Boules (Chair, AER Vision Rehabilitation Therapists Division) > Lauren Branch (President, NewView, Oklahoma) > Joe Catavero (President, AER) > Kim Charleston (President, ACB) > Anisio Corriea (New York Vision Rehabilitation Association) > Neva Fairchild (Chair, AER Aging Division) > Justin Kaiser (Chair, AER O&M Division) > Kelly Lusk (Chair, AER Low Vision Division) > Lester Marks (Administrator, New York Lighthouse Guild) > Roxann Mayros (CEO & President, VisionServe Alliance) > Nancy Miller (President, New York Vision Rehabilitation Association) > Mark Richert (Governmental Relations, AFB) > Tony Stevens (Governmental Relations, ACB) > Lou Tutt (Executive Director, AER) > Kathy Zieder (Executive Director, ACVREP) > > Resolution of the > Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the > Blind and Visually Impaired, July 2016 > > Accessing Third-Party Payment for Vision-Rehabilitation Professionals and Services > > Resolution Number 2016 - 1 > > Whereas the primary funding streams supporting specialized services to individuals who are blind or visually impaired are restricted to the special education and vocational rehabilitation systems; and > > Whereas the only national program intended to offer specialized services to those people who are blind or visually impaired who are not ordinarily served by the special education or vocational rehabilitation systems, namely the Independent Living Services for Older Individuals who are Blind (OIB) program, has been unconscionably under­ funded since its inception; and > > Whereas 6.9 million Americans 65 years and older reported having a significant visual impairment, according to the 2015 National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey; and > > Whereas the services of many health and rehabilitation professionals are reimbursed by third-party programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance carriers, and > > Whereas the services of most vision rehabilitation professionals qualified to provide specialized services to people who are blind or visually impaired are not currently reimbursable through third-party programs; and > > Whereas for the last several decades, coordinated advocacy for Medicare > Reimbursement for such services undertaken by organizations of and for people who are blind or visually impaired, including AER, has been unsuccessful; and > > Whereas expertise in health care management and administration is necessary for understanding the business of health care delivery and accessing third-party funding; and > > Whereas this expertise in health care management and administration lies outside the preparation and experience of professionals, program administrators and others involved in the delivery of specialized services to people who are blind or visually impaired; > > NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) on this 23rd day of July, 2016, in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, that this organization, through its President and Executive Director, shall reach out to the leadership and public policy staff of the major national, regional and community-based organizations of and for people who are blind or visually impaired with whom AER may make common cause to invite them to participate in an “AER National Working Group on Third-Party Coverage for Specialized Services” > (working group) to consider and implement strategies to achieve third-party funding for the specialized services provided by vision rehabilitation professionals. > > And be it further resolved that this national working group shall include the active participation of each of the AER divisions representing professionals for whom third­ party coverage is being sought. > > And be it further resolved that this national working group shall seek the involvement of additional individuals and entities with expertise in health care management and administration to advise the working group concerning current reimbursement policy and process and how professionals can qualify for and access third-party funding. > > And be it further resolved that the AER President or Executive Director and/or a representative that the President may appoint shall routinely participate in working group meetings, shall regularly report to the AER Board about such meetings, and shall put any working group recommendations before the AER Board for its consideration and approval prior to working group actions. > > > Unsubscribe instructions > > You are receiving this message because at some point you subscribed to the AFB DirectConnect newsletter. If you would like to stop receiving DirectConnect, please follow this link to unsubscribe. > > Remove me immediately from all AFB lists (you will no longer receive any newsletters from AFB if you click on this link). >