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Blumenthal demands crackdown on 'misleading' scooter chair ads
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called for a crackdown Thursday on aggressive and misleading advertisements used by the power mobility device (PMD) industry to market motorized wheelchairs and scooters to seniors.
Blumenthal said such tactics drive up Medicare costs.
“Aggressive advertisements directed at seniors, which intentionally misrepresent the devices’ risks versus benefits and the Medicare coverage criteria, need to be stopped,” Blumenthal said in a statement Thursday.
Blumenthal also called for an end to the pressure that PMD suppliers put on doctors to prescribe their products and the difficulties patients face in receiving refunds when they don’t receive reimbursement from Medicare.
He pointed out that most of the ads that promise “improved mobility” portray improper use of PMDs outside the home and fail to include any mention of the health and safety risks that could come with using these devices.
Blumenthal said he would be sending letters to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking both to investigate oversight of the PMD industry’s advertising practices and the fraud recovery efforts under way.
“The federal government must redouble its efforts to crack down on the pervasive Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse associated with expensive power mobility devices, but we need to do more to address the root cause of this problem,” Blumenthal said. “Cracking down on motorized wheelchair fraud and abuse is essential to patients and taxpayers.”
In the press release, Blumenthal said PMDs account for approximately $606 million in annual Medicare spending, and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) found last year that 80 percent of claims for PMDs did not meet Medicare criteria and should not have been paid, resulting in a loss of $492 million dollars.
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