Pass It On Center AT Reuse Partnerships with Medicaid Guide

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AT Reuse Partnerships with Medicaid: A Guide for Consideration and Development

Pass It On Center AT Reuse Partnerships with Medicaid Guide PDF

The Pass It On Center, the National Assistive Technology Reuse Center

AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center

College of Architecture | Georgia Institute of Technology

This guide is developed and written by:

Joy Kniskern, MEd, CRC, Principal Investigator

Carolyn Phillips, MS, ATP, Director of The Pass It On Center

Sara Sack, PhD, Director, Assistive Technology for Kansans and Consultant to the Pass It On Center

Acknowledgement

The Pass It On Center would like to thank Rita Stanley, Member, National Task Force on Assistive Technology Reuse, and Vice President, Government Relations, Sunrise Medical, for her contributions to this paper.

Special Recognition

The Pass It On Center would like to thank Trish Redmon, Special Projects Consultant for The Pass It On Center on her research, coordination and development of this paper.

About this Guide

Access to durable medical equipment (DME) improves health and safety, minimizes doctor visits and returns to hospitals, reduces or delays assisted living and nursing home placements, and enables some people and/or caregivers to keep working. Access to DME is not always available and those who cannot obtain it fail to experience the needed outcomes and quality-of-life improvements that DME can provide. Individuals who lack access may be uninsured or under-insured, or they may have coverage but experience delays in obtaining devices. For all of these individuals, the reutilization of lightly-used DME can have great value.

Purpose of this Guide

The 56 federally funded state and territorial Assistive Technology Act Programs are mandated to engage in some form of assistive technology (AT) reuse. Three of these programs engage in partnerships with Medicaid, and in a recent survey, 23 states expressed an interest in developing partnerships. This guide is for the leaders of AT Act Programs and Medicaid programs. The purpose is not to take a position for or against partnerships between AT reuse programs and Medicaid, but to provide guidance to those who choose to pursue partnerships. The recommendations in this guide are based on best practices and the lessons learned from previous and existing programs. These recommendations could easily apply to collaborative partnerships with the Veterans Administration, education systems, Vocational Rehabilitation, private health insurance, and others.

Pass It On Center AT Reuse Partnerships with Medicaid Guide PDF