WATA Bulletin: Spring 2004

Contents:

CSUN Conference Highlights AT Innovations
Medicare Coverage for Power Wheelchairs and POVs: Recent Advocacy Efforts
Introduction to Assistive Technology Training to Be Offered at the UW in June
Calendar of Events

CSUN conference highlights AT innovations

Debbie Cook, Director, Washington Assistive Technology Alliance
Alan Knue, Program Manager, Washington Assistive Technology Alliance

The 19th annual International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, hosted by the California State University at Northridge Center on Disabilities (CSUN), was held March 15-19 in Los Angeles. Here are just a few of the innovations in assistive technology presented that we thought would interest you.

Blind musicians can now produce music scores in both print and Braille. For some time, sighted musicians have been able to create and print musical scores using a PC and a synthesizer. Now thanks to Dancing Dots, http://dancingdots.com, blind and visually impaired people can do this too, using special programming adaptations for the popular Sonar and Sibelius music production programs and a product called GoodFeel. This is especially exciting because music is essentially an entirely graphical notation. Prior to these innovations, blind people have found it necessary to dictate each musical note individually to a sighted scribe who might or might not accurately notate it.

Dueling Daisy Players. Daisy is the book production standard now being used worldwide to produce both audio and text materials and is increasingly used by organizations producing books for people with print disabilities. A new feature at CSUN which will undoubtedly be an annual event was a competition between the various hardware Daisy players followed by a similar event for software players. All manufacturers of hardware and the software developers were asked to perform a similar set of tests including navigation, dealing with a missing page and finding a page that was not on the loaded CD. Additionally, hardware devices were dropped and software was searched for a text string. Many of the products performed all of these tests successfully.

Hello, Hello. Although Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires that cell phone service providers and product manufacturers make their products accessible to the extent it is readily achievable, it is almost entirely up to the user to purchase accessible technology, none of which is available from mainstream manufacturers. This year saw a wide variety of innovative solutions for the Nokia 60 series talking phones, including use of Bluetooth to connect the phones to a Braille display (HandiTech) and telephone technology embedded into a Braille display with note-taking capabilities (Alva).

Apple announces Spoken Interface, a built-in screen-reading accessory to be included in the next major release of Mac OS X. Spoken Interface will provide a combination of speech, audible cues and keyboard navigation to help blind users navigate Mac OS X and use all of its interface elements, including the Dock, menu items, tool bars and applications. Spoken Interface will also read aloud the content of documents and files, including web pages, email messages and word processing files.

Orientation keys and keyboard commands will provide context and information about the user's location on the desktop, what files are open and what applications are running. Users can select a single voice for every spoken description, or assign unique voices to the six types of information the Spoken Interface can provide, including commands, content, item descriptions, item types, spoken menus and echoed text. Speech rate can be adjusted as content is being read. For more information visit http://www.apple.com/accessibility.

Medicare coverage for power wheelchairs and POVs: recent advocacy efforts

Sherrie Brown, J.D., Ed.D., Policy Specialist, UW Center for Technology and Disability Studies

Medicare pays for wheelchairs under the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) category when the chairs, either manual or power, are considered "medically necessary." Medicare covers the cost of a power chair, versus a manual chair, if the medical justification provided by the health care provider meets standards established by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), the federal department that administers both insurance programs.

Medicare requires a "Certificate of Medical Necessity" from your health care provider before it will consider paying for any wheelchair, and will not cover a power wheelchair or power operated vehicle (POV) unless your provider states that you need it because of your medical condition. Medicare will not cover the cost of a power wheelchair or POV "only for your convenience or for leisure activities." DME coverage under Medicare is limited to equipment that is necessary for use in the home.

In December 2003, an article appeared on regional Medicare carrier websites that attempted to clarify national policy on power wheelchair and POVs reimbursement. See www.cigna medicare.com/articles/dec03/cope385.html. It was, according to CMS, part of a comprehensive plan to address the "explosive growth of Medicare payments for power wheelchairs in the past few years" by adopting a consistent approach to medical review of power wheel chair and POV claims by all regional carriers. In this article, the specific language from the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual, Section 60-9, was quoted. This language is as follows:

A wheelchair is covered "if the patient's condition is such that without the use of a wheelchair he would otherwise be bed or chair confined."
A power wheelchair or POV is covered if, in addition, "the patient is unable to operate the wheelchair manually."

CMS maintains that this bulletin did not indicate a change in Medicare policy but was simply a restatement of the policy in existence since 1985. Suppliers of DME, however, considered it a change and one that was more restrictive towards reimbursement. Users and the advocacy community were alarmed because if suppliers interpreted the bulletin in this way, they would have more difficulty getting power wheelchairs and POVs.

National advocacy groups mobilized and made their concerns known through the media as well as by lobbying members of Congress. In addition, CMS heard from users during an Open Door Forum and Listening Sessions earlier this year.

Because of these efforts, CMS has "retracted" the bulletin and was scheduled to hold another Open Door Forum on March 31. The purpose of this forum—although open to all users and their advocates who wished to participate—was to ensure that all regional carriers understand the medical review criteria for power wheelchairs and POVs. CMS hopes this effort will end the confusion and clarify that the policy remains the same. More information is at the CMS website, www.cms.gov.

It is important to recognize the success of the advocacy community in forcing CMS to address the confusion that arose from the bulletin. Although not always successful, when users and advocates rally around an issue and work through the avenues available to make their concerns known, governmental actions can be modified.

Introduction to Assistive Technology training to be offered at UW in June

The Center for Technology and Disability Studies at the University of Washington will offer An Introduction to Assistive Technology: Summer Institute 2004, a series of workshops from June 28 to July 1.

Topics covered will include assistive technology, the fundamentals, augmentative and alternative communication, computer access technologies, funding for assistive technology, technology for people with learning disabilities, seating, positioning and mobility, hearing assistance technology, environmental control units, web accessibility and individuals with low vision or blindness, and case studies and consultations.

During the hands-on labs, participants will experience alternative computer access hardware and software as well as software to aid individuals who have blindness or low vision, limited mobility, or difficulties with reading and writing.

The fee is $495. For an additional fee, those who complete the entire institute can receive UW academic credit, Rehabilitation Counselor Certification Credits (CRCC), and/or Puget Sound Education Service District clock hours.

For more information and registration, call 800-841-8345 (toll-free V/TTY in Washington state), email uwctds@u.washington.edu, or visit the web at http://uwctds.washington.edu/.

Calendar of Events

RESNA 2004: 27th International Conference on Technology & Disability: Research, Design, Practice & Policy.
June 18-22, Orlando, Fla.

RESNA 2004, sponsored by the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, brings together people who use, develop, manufacture and deliver assistive and rehabilitative technologies. Information: RESNA, 1700 N. Moore Street, Suite 1540, Arlington, VA 22209-1903, 703-524-6686, info@resna.org or http://www.resna.org/.

AHEAD 2004: The 27th Annual Conference: Leading the Dance.
July 13-17, Miami Beach
The theme for the Association of Higher Education and Disability's conference is campus leadership and the role of disability services. Information: AHEAD, P.O. Box 540666, Waltham, MA 02454 or < a href="http://www.ahead.org/conference/index.html" target="_blank">www.ahead.org/conference/index.html.

AAC in the Mountains 2004 Conference
July 12-14, Park City, Utah
Learn how to incorporate light- and high-tech strategies into student routines. Included are the ever popular make-and-take activities. Information: 435-645-7737, fax 435-658-0925, mail@creativecommunicating.com or http://creativecommunicating.com/acc2004.html.

For calendar updates, visit the Web at:
http://wata.org/calendar.htm
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The WATA Bulletin is supported by grant H224A3006 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Olympia, WA.